Accidents

Fort Drum Artillery Incident

Movement of an artillery site led to errors in targeting. Artillery shells were fired more than a mile off target: 2 soldiers killed; 13 injured.

Two artillery shells were fired more than a mile off target during an Army firing exercise at Fort Drum in  Northern New York in March 2002. The shells landed near a mess tent where a Battalion were having  breakfast. Two soldiers were killed, 13 were injured.

The initial artillery site was unsuitable so the unit had to move to a different location nearly a mile away.  The unit then had trouble setting up its digital and wire communications. The movement of the unit was  not taken into account when programming the firing coordinates. Also, in what was termed a ‘software  behavioural shortfall’ the system was designed to reset the gun elevation to zero. The correct altitude for  the new site was not entered into the safety calculations, and the mistakes were not captured by the data  review process.

This incident highlights the importance of the integrity and verifiability Data Properties, specifically with  respect to the location and elevation data.

Sources 

• http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2002/Army-Reports-on-Ft-Drum-Accident/id-  539bf2ea24b8dd66009c6efee2be926c
  (accessed 29 November 2017).