Used to identify friendly forces during night operations, the Mockingbird emits an infrared strobe that can be detected by the thermal imaging systems in aircraft, or infantry and ground vehicle night vision systems to tell friendly forces from the enemy and prevent friendly fire incidents. The Mockingbird has two settings: One simply emits a strobe constantly at regular intervals, which is the function most often used. Should UNSC forces encounter an enemy that is also using IR strobes, however, the Mockingbird can be set to emit strobes in a random pattern that is detected by the imaging system's computer, which tags the strobes with a blue UNSC tag and unrecognised strobes with a red hostile tag. However, in cases such as these, UNSC forces may simply choose not to wear strobes at all,