@Coagie:
In 1988, the USS
Vincennes incorrectly identified an Iran Air A300 as an Iranian Air Force F-14 and shot it down. In 1985, the joint US/French Titanic expedition incorrectly identified an immediately strong sonar reading at the beginning of their search pattern as an equipment malfunction and spent weeks headed in the opposite direction of the wreck, and it was only when - in a last-ditch effort - they threw all the video imaging equipment at the area a short distance from their point of origin that the wreck was actually found.
All I intend to illustrate with this is that neither military operations nor deep-ocean exploration are immune from mistakes, and before throwing accusations of conspiracy around, Hanlon's Razor should apply:
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Or even miscommunication and bad luck.