Human Factors Issues in Combat Identification (Human Factors in Defence) - Hardcover

'The book leverages the best current science to provide the military with a concrete agenda and set of principles to use in mitigating fratricide, in all possible avenues of approach to the problem. One can easily imagine the Department of Defense going from this book to a specific program of research with the potential for many near-term applications. Military organizations can take this book and run with it.' Robert Hoffman, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, USA 'Tragedies caused by combat misidentification have existed since the beginning of combat. Other texts have reviewed the history of fratricide, but Human Factors Issues in Combat Identification sets a new standard for comprehensiveness in exploring the psychological underpinnings of combat identification. Leading experts provide state-of-the-art reviews explaining how perception, cognition, situation awareness, team processes, and training all play a role and interact in understanding, and hopefully alleviating, combat misidentification.' Michael A. Vidulich, Air Force Research Laboratory, USA 'With the lethality of today's weaponry and increasing requirements for coalition and asymmetric operations, it has become strategically as well as tactically critical to distinguish friend from foe. As long as humans make these decisions, the issue must be informed by behavioral technology and science. In covering areas ranging from human cognition, decision-making, and perception to team processes and interactions between humans and technologies, this book is a uniquely comprehensive, authoritative, and practical resource specifically focused on the essential and inescapable "people" issues in combat identification.' J. D. Fletcher, Institute for Defense Analyses, USA 'This book should be read by warfighters and capability developers across Australian Defence.' Australian Defence Force Journal, September 2010

This edited book presents an array of approaches on how human factors theory and research addresses the challenges associated with combat identification. Special emphasis is placed on reducing human error that leads to fratricide, which is the unintentional death or injury of friendly personnel by friendly weapons during an enemy engagement. Although fratricide has been a concern since humans first engaged in combat operations, it gained prominence during the Persian Gulf War. To reduce fratricide, advances in technological approaches to enhance combat identification (e.g., Blue Force Tracker) should be coupled with the application of human factors principles to reduce human error. The book brings together a diverse group of authors from academic and military researchers to government contractors and commercial developers to provide a single volume with broad appeal. Human Factors Issues in Combat Identification is intended for the larger human factors community within academia, the military and other organizations that work with the military such as government contractors and commercial developers as well as others interested in combat identification issues including military personnel and policy makers.