OTTAWA - Canada and its allies in Afghanistan are conducting the first large-scale multinational effort to reduce friendly fire casualties.
The U.S.-hosted exercise is under way in the deserts of Nevada and California.
A contingent of 125 troops from C-F-B Petawawa, Ontario are taking part, along with three C-F-18 fighter jets and fighting vehicles.
Ground units and aircraft from Australia, France, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Britain are also taking part.
The exercise is intencded to give the allies a chance to look at each other's technology and figure out what works best.
They'll also get a look at state-of-the-art target identification devices for vehicles and soldiers, as well as software systems for aircraft.
The drill comes just weeks after investigations in both Canada and the U-S concluded that better training, equipment and co-ordination could have prevented the accidental strafing of a company of Canadian soldiers last year.
One Canadian died and 30 were wounded.
