Manning Case: Why Did The Well-Equipped Apache Fire On Friendlies?

Bradley Manning, the 25-year old private first class from Oklahoma, who reportedly leaked over 750,000 classified Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, was found guilty of most of the charges against him including espionage, theft and fraud.

Manning was detained in Iraq for suspicion of having leaked 39 minutes of classified cockpit gunsight footage from 2007 in 2010.

In the video, the team of the two Apaches directed 30mm cannon fire at a group of approximately 11 men, some of whom were armed with RFGs and AKMs, ahead of oncoming U.S. Army ground troops.  Among the group were two Iraqi journalists working for Reuters, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen.

Noor-Eldeen was killed after troops mistook his camera for an RPG pointed at the troops when he attempted to photograph the soldiers moving toward the armed group.

However, what is inconceivable about the report is that AH-64 Apache, with its plethora of sensors, could have misidentified a camera for an RPG.

The Boeing Apache AH-64 is equipped with the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman (Longbow LLC) AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radar, which has a very low probability of intercept. The radar automatically searches, detects, locates, classifies, and prioritizes fixed and moving targets on land, see and in the air in all weather environments and battlefield conditions.

Apache pilots use the M-TADS/PNVS (Lockheed Martin Arrowhead package), which is an advanced electro-optical fire control and sensor system, for target acquisition and situational awareness.

According to Lockheed Martin, M-TADS/PNVS improves system performance by over 150%, reliability increases more than 150% while maintenance actions are reduced by 60% (compared to the older TADS/PNVS system).

Other sensors used on the AH-64E include the Northrop Grumman  AN/APR-39 Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), the BAE Systems AN/APX-123(V)5 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder, the AN/APR-48A Radar Frequency Interferometer (RFI) from Lockheed Martin, and the AN/AVR-2B(V) Laser Warning System (LWS) from Goodrich (AH-64E Block III only - AH-64A/D use the AN/AVR-2A).

Wikileaks, in 2010, released the footage under the name Collateral Murder which it acquired from an undisclosed source. Depicted from the gunsight Target Acquisition and Designation System of one of the attacking helicopters, the video shows the incident and the radio chatter between the aircrews and ground units involved.

Interestingly, the jury which convicted Manning did not find anything inappropriate in the U.S. Marines’ Apache helicopters shooting at a TV camera team despite having access to sophisticated sensors which could have provided sufficient advance information as to the nature of the threats.

No subsequent investigation was ordered to get at the truth.