Q&A ยท 13:46-14:05

Why radar did not eliminate friendly-fire risk

Radar reduced friendly-fire risk, but unreliable identification equipment left crews uncertain about some contacts.

Question

Did radar reduce friendly-fire incidents?

Short answer

It reduced the risk, but contemporary identification-friend-or-foe systems were not reliable enough to remove it.

Notes

Radar contacts still needed to be identified before crews could fire safely. Wartime identification-friend-or-foe equipment was imperfect. Radar reduced friendly-fire risk, but it provided less protection against mistakes than crews would have wanted.