ALBUQUERQUE, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The Albuquerque-based Sandia National Laboratories has demonstrated the Athena Radar-Responsive Tag, designed to avoid friendly fire incidents.
Athena, demonstrated recently during Britain's "Urgent Quest" military exercise, was developed with sponsorship from the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force Air Warfare Battlelab.
Athena tags were placed on military vehicles participating in the military exercises. The device, tracked via aircraft radar, can be used to identify both U.S. and coalition forces during combat to avoid fratricide -- the act of killing one's own soldiers.
Aircraft on bombing runs used their on-board radar systems to ensure there were no friendly troops in their sights. If an Athena-tagged vehicle was present, a unique identifier appeared on the pilot's screen alerting him to a friendly force in his target area, thereby avoiding a potential friendly fire incident.
Sandia Project Administrator Darick Lewis said the Athena is effective because it utilizes a fighter aircraft's existing radar for detection.
"It is simple, rugged, small and inexpensive to integrate," he said.
Sandia developed the system, along with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and Sierra Monolithics Inc.
