Aircraft Identification

Improved Aircraft Identification Capabilities: A Critical Need Gao ID: NSIAD-86-181 August 11, 1986

GAO examined whether current capabilities for identifying aircraft allow the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) air defense forces to effectively use their weapons under all combat conditions and whether the United States and NATO could take steps to better use existing identification capabilities.

GAO found that: (1) the United States and NATO have difficulty in identifying aircraft beyond visual range, at night, or in bad weather; (2) the Department of Defense (DOD) has made little progress since the mid-1970's in developing and fielding new systems; and (3) Army and Air Force units in Europe need to make better use of the Mark XII identification system.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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