Did a Predator Just Kill Two U.S. Troops?

An American droning apparently killed two U.S. troops in Afghanistan last week in what may be a first - of - its - kind case of friendly fire .

NBC ’s Jim Miklaszewski writes that the bang killed a Marine Staff Sergeant and Navy corpsman while they werereinforcing Marines under firefrom the Taliban in Helmand Province , Afghanistan . The Marines reportedly visit the troops headed towards them through a Predator ’s infrared tv camera , could not separate them from snipe Taliban and ordered in the Predator - expect Hellfire missile airstrike that killed the two men .

“ It ’s believed that this is the first time that U.S. service members have been stamp out by a Predator in a friendly fire incident , ” Miklaszewski reports .

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The tap follow the Los Angeles Times ’ in - profundity chronicle of a February 2010drone strike gone awry . In the incident , a combination of misinterpreted sign and the daze of warfare led drone operators and limited operations force on the ground to think a convoy of Afghan civilian in vehicles was an inbound Taliban attack force . ( Read the transcript of the chatter between the radio-controlled aircraft pilot and the ground troopshere . ) The bang killed 15 - 16 men , one woman and three baby according to the U.S. armed forces . Local Afghans set the figure of drained at 23 , including two children .

lagger strikes and the accidental civilian casualties they cause have been the subject ofintense debateover the days as the U.S. has increasingly relied on remote-controlled aerial systems in Afghanistan and Pakistan . This modish incident , apparently the first friendly firing incident against U.S. force play involve an unmanned system , and the investigation that will follows add together new fuel to the argumentation over the trust on remote-controlled systems and their preciseness in combat .

Photo : Flickr / U.S. Air Force

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