This might be an opportune moment to reflect on the real cause of the shooting down of the Jaguar because the correct remedy has yet to be found. It is a very simple safety precaution that is inbred in those who regularly use live weapons that one never points them except at those targets one intends to do harm to.
Now the AD role has for decades blessed the act of contravening that basic rule by dictating to aircrew that they make all switches live in training and achieve a kill solution using the trigger to confirm a shot within parameters so it is surprising that not more inadvertent ‘kills’ have been achieved.
The main reason for the scarcity of accidental ‘kills’ is that air defenders do not normally train with live weapons aboard but, on occasions like Gulf War 1, they did so for an extended period. The difference then was that all training in theatre was conducted with live weapons and the crews remained aware.
The best remedy is to teach crews that they never select a weapon together with all the arming switches and press the trigger/bomb release unless they mean harm. For training purposes a better alternative than that currently used must be found that will still enable evaluation of the correct procedures.