friendly fire

American  

noun

1. Insurance. a fire deliberately set and remaining contained, as in a fireplace or boiler, from which any resulting loss cannot be claimed as an insurance liability (hostile fire ).

2. (in military combat) fire, as by artillery, by one's own forces, especially when causing damage near or casualties to one's own troops.

---

friendly fire British  

noun

1. military firing by one's own side, esp when it harms one's own personnel

---

Example Sentences

Days after the friendly fire mishap, he and his unit were tasked with clearing bunkers on foot.

From The Wall Street Journal

F-15s were downed by friendly fire over Kuwait on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Its battlefield management excels at tracking hundreds of incoming drones across varied distances and altitudes, assigning teams to counter them quickly, and managing deconfliction to avoid friendly fire.

From The Wall Street Journal

The friendly fire incident underscores the challenges of fighting a complex air war with a regional patchwork of air defenses, said former military officials.

From The Wall Street Journal

Separately in Kuwait, the US confirmed three fighter jets were downed after what it described as an incident of "friendly fire" on Monday.

From BBC