§ Mr. O'HaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what procedures were enforced after the friendly fire incident in the Gulf war, in which a British Warrior armoured car was hit, to prevent a repetition of such errors; and whether these were in place when two American helicopters were shot down recently by friendy fire in northern Iraq.
§ Mr. HanleyFollowing the friendly fire incident in the Gulf conflict we have been working independently as well as in close consultation with the United States and our other NATO allies, on improvements to the management of combat indentification and the development of more advanced technology in support of this. The incident in northern Iraq on 14 April is the subject of a full United States inquiry in which the United Kingdom and other coalition partners are represented. The results of this inquiry will be reported to Parliament as soon as possible, and it is therefore inapopropriate at this point to attempt to draw parallels between the two incidents.