GR4 Hit By Patriot Missile Battery

Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed on Sunday the two-man crew of a Royal Air Force Tornado jet shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile were dead.

"We can confirm that they were both killed in action," a ministry spokesman said.

The incident was the first reported friendly fire fatality since the war began on Wednesday.

The Tornado GR4, based in Marham, Britain, was returning from an operational mission early Sunday and was engaged by the missile battery, said a statement from the British press information center at U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar.

"We can confirm that a Tornado GR4 aircraft ... was engaged near the Kuwaiti border by a Patriot missile battery," said a statement from the British press information center at U.S. Central Command.

The British statement didn't say whether the battery was U.S., Kuwaiti or of another country.

IFF Failure?

Asked how the missile could have brought down the plane, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told ABC's "This Week" that "procedures and electronic means to identify friendly aircraft and to identify adversary aircraft ... broke down somewhere."

"Central Command is looking into that as we speak. Again, it's a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the crew members," Myers told ABC.

Lockwood noted that the missile is designed to intercept everything above it from incoming ballistic missiles to low-flying cruise missiles.

"We wish to find out just as everybody else does, the U.S. as well, why this happened. And we will be carrying out a joint investigation to determine the facts so that we can eliminate this problem forever," he said.

Britain has sent some 45,000 military personnel to the Persian Gulf to join in the U.S.-led attack against Iraq. Fourteen British and nine American servicemen have been killed since the beginning of the war started Wednesday night, EST.

Lockwood acknowledged the bad start for the British so far in the campaign, saying it was "not one we would have chosen, I have to say, but this you must remember is high-intensity conflict. This is war and it's not training."

"We will continue to do our job and see it to its finish," he said.

FMI: www.raf.mod.uk