There is no such thing as "friendly fire", cos it is all very unfriendly!
According to CNN, the Air National Guard F16 had requested permission to drop bombs on ground targets, but was refused, he then acted in "self defence" when he dropped two 500lb bombs.
I feel for the crew of the F16, who no doubt will be overcome with sorrow (one would hope so anyway), however the next of kin of the soldiers involved will feature in alot of prayers for a while and deserve an answer to establish why this un-necessary accident happened.
The USAF does have a poor record when it comes to fratricide, (my rough calculations), I believe the USAF killed more British troops in the 91 gulf war than any other single act!
I find it hard to believe that the number of live munitions that they use plays any part in these accidents, simply to train for war using weapons of war is good training and should prevent nerves creeping onto the master arm switch!
One thing is for sure, the "Sky gods" who so often help ground troops should sample life in the trenches or on the battle field and maybe then, they will exercise caution when dropping bombs in questionable circumstances.
The Amercans do drop more bombs than anyone else, but can anybody recall another nation having any such accidents? Did the RAF in the 82 Falklands war?
A sad day for all involved!