Hold Your Fire!: Preventing Fratricide in the Dismounted Soldier Domain
conference paper
Since WWI, an estimated 15% of all soldiers killed in combat are attributed to fratricide, and recent military operations show no decline. A substantial amount concerns fratricide incidents between dismounted soldiers. However, most techniques introduced to prevent fratricide focus on inter-vehicle identification (IFF systems). In this feasibility study, we propose a decision support system that warns a dismounted soldier about to engage when there is a high risk of fratricide. The project has won the 2007 Innovation Game organized by the Dutch Ministry of Defense (MoD). The system will run on a new platform that is currently in development within the Dutch Soldier Modernisation Programme. This platform enables information exchange between soldiers and the Battlefield Management System (BMS), among which up-to-date soldier
position information from GPS. Together with terrain information, also available in BMS, these soldier positions are taken into account when deriving an instant risk estimation for fratricide in the current shooting direction. The system is demonstrated using a simulation in which the village of Marnehuizen, built to train Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT), serves as an example. The Dutch army has expressed great interest in the outcome of the study, and is currently investigating possibilities for actual implementation
position information from GPS. Together with terrain information, also available in BMS, these soldier positions are taken into account when deriving an instant risk estimation for fratricide in the current shooting direction. The system is demonstrated using a simulation in which the village of Marnehuizen, built to train Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT), serves as an example. The Dutch army has expressed great interest in the outcome of the study, and is currently investigating possibilities for actual implementation
TNO Identifier
222132
Source title
13th ICCRTS: C2 for Complex Endeavors - International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, 17-19 June 2008, Bellevue, WA, USA.