The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 ...

Combat Command Carter 91
sound and had three flashing lights. On occasion it would emit
a white strobe, as if it was taking a picture. John Burdan
stepped outside the squadron command post that evening and
watched as one circled about 200 feet above him and then departed.
A short while later he got the word that it was not a
friendly aircraft and was quite unnerved as he was sure that the
enemy had discovered his location. Judging by its speed, he decided
that first thing in the morning the squadron command
post would move to a new location. The RPV returned the next
evening; however, the division denied both ground battalions
permission to engage. With so many different allied intelligence
agencies in Saudi Arabia, no one wanted to shoot down a
friendly aircraft by mistake. 19
The unmanned aircraft was one of two big events that
caused Carter and his staff to get excited on February 9. The
other was the constant electronic interference, or “jamming,”
that affected radio communications in the area. The cavalry
squadron had, on several occasions, noted at least two or more
antennas on a building within As Samah. As that was the only
covered, protected location in the area, Carter bet that it was the
jamming device’s location and ordered the cavalry to destroy it.
He also gave the order to shoot down the RPV if it came back.
Unfortunately, what transpired that night was not exactly an
example of American military prowess. 20
The small, unmanned, and unidentified aircraft returned
around dusk. First, the cavalry observation posts shot at it with
machine guns but missed, and it continued flying towards
Gross’s task force. At 2033 hours, based on BG Carter’s previous
order, the task force’s Stinger air defense team fired a missile
at it. Again, the Americans missed and the missile exploded
when it reached its maximum range. Meanwhile the little airplane
continued to chug along impudently, with its red light
and flashing strobe, towards the supporting 1-5 Field Artillery
command post farther in the rear. Again, the task force fired a
Stinger and again, it blew itself up as the RPV flew away. Later
that night another Stinger crew also tried to shoot the RPV
down, but the missile lost its lock-on and also self-destructed.
Why did the Stinger teams miss? LTC Gross believed it was because
of the excessive amount of time it took to get permission