1994 Black Hawk shootdown incident

Part of Operation Provide Comfort of the Iraqi no-fly zones

U.S. military personnel inspect the wreckage of one of the two American UH-60 Black Hawks shot down in the 1994 Black Hawk shootdown incident in northern Iraq.

Date	14 April 1994
Location	Erbil, Arbil Governorate, Iraq
Result	Two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawks destroyed, all 26 military and civilian personnel aboard killed.

The 1994 Black Hawk shootdown incident, sometimes referred to as the Black Hawk Incident, was a friendly fire incident over northern Iraq that occurred on 14 April 1994 during Operation Provide Comfort (OPC). The pilots of two United States Air Force (USAF) F-15 fighter aircraft, operating under the control of a USAF airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, misidentified two United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters as Iraqi Mil Mi-24 "Hind" helicopters. The F-15 pilots fired on and destroyed both helicopters, killing all 26 military and civilians aboard, including personnel from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Turkey, and the Kurdish community.

A subsequent USAF investigation blamed the accident on several factors. The F-15 pilots were faulted for misidentifying the helicopters as hostile. Also, the crew members of the AWACS aircraft were blamed for their inaction in failing to exercise appropriate control and for not intervening in the situation. In addition, the identification friend or foe (IFF) systems had not functioned to identify the helicopters to the F-15 pilots. Furthermore, USAF leaders had failed to adequately integrate U.S. Army helicopter operations into overall OPC air operations. As a result of the investigation several USAF officers received administrative discipline but only one, Jim Wang, an AWACS crew member, was tried by military court-martial, in which he was acquitted.

As a result of complaints by family members of the victims and others that the military was failing to hold its personnel accountable, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House conducted their own investigations into the shootdown and the U.S. military's response to it. Also, Ronald R. Fogleman, the USAF's new Chief of Staff, conducted his own review of the actions taken by the USAF against the officers involved in the incident.

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Wikipedia