EDINBURGH, Ind. (AP) — Pilots and soldiers from 14 countries will be at central Indiana's Camp Atterbury this month for a NATO training exercise on how to avoid opening fire on friendly forces.
The exercises are scheduled to begin at the Indiana National Guard base starting Thursday and last through Sept. 25.
Military personnel from the U.S., Canada and several European countries will take part in the training, including the use of high-tech sensors that allow them to distinguish friend from foe, Navy Capt. Kent Davis said.
They'll familiarize themselves with different types of technology, including radar, infrared and radio systems. For instance, pilots will train with radios that automatically exchange challenge and password signals with ground forces.
"A pilot could only have seconds to determine whether to engage a target," Davis told the Daily Journal of Franklin (http://bit.ly/pFrWOv). "There's little margin for error, so you need instantaneous information about the battlefield conditions."
About 500 soldiers will participate in the training at Camp Atterbury near Edinburgh and the Muscatatuck Urban Training Complex near North Vernon.
Those living near those bases should expect to hear more fighter jets and helicopters day and night than normal during the training period, National Guard Maj. Lisa Kopczynski said.
The goal of the training is to prevent friendly fire deaths, such as when an American fighter pilot killed four Canadian soldiers in a 2002 bombing in Afghanistan.
The technology that works best at Camp Atterbury will be shared by NATO countries during ongoing and future combat and peacekeeping missions. All allies need to use the same devices to recognize each other on the battlefield to avoid any friendly fire deaths, Davis said.
"Warfare is a fallible process," he said. "Unfortunately, tragedies happen, and that's why we're refining our processes for target identification and developing new processes."
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