Improvised Explosive Disaster

The Weekly Standard ^ | 05/04/2006 | Michael Goldfarb

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[baltoga]

An excellent article on the impact of IEDs. There is no easy solution.

- If we up our armor, they up their ordinance.

- If we jam their signal, they switch to a different frequency

Now I did find it interesting that switching patrol tactics met resistance from within, so that I find troubling.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Defense Tech: Bomb Squad

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Sectors are control measures. Control measures are important in preventing friendly fire incidents. Senior officers are control freaks. Command AND control.

[R. Scott]

… among the troops on the ground, no tactic employed by the Iraqi insurgency is as dreaded.

I always disliked mines more than people – there was no way to fight back against a mine.
As for the improvement of the “IEDs”, many are no longer “improvised”. Maybe it’s time to go back to using the term “mines” for some of the devises?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

US Spends $50.9M for 79 More Cougar JERRV Mine-Resistant Vehicles

Posted 04-May-2006 06:16

Cougar-H & EOD Team
(click to view full)

Force Protection Industries, Inc. in Ladson, SC received a $50.9 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum ordering quantity of 79 Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicles (JERRV) and associated manuals, spares, field support, and training. Work will be performed in Ladson, SC (60%) and Charlotte, MI (40%), and work is expected to be complete by May 2007. This contract is a sole source award to Force Protection Industries, Inc. as they are the sole manufacturer. The Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA issued the contract (M67854-06-D-5042).

DID has covered the Cougar HEV/JERRV in-depth before, and the article includes very positive field reports re: its performance with engineer and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units. This contract is in addition to the 27 Cougars purchased by the Marines for use in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the 122-vehicle all-services order DID covered in May 2005.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

House committee passes $512 billion defense bill
Measure focuses on IED defense, life insurance, adding troops

By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, May 5, 2006

WASHINGTON — Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan would see more radio jammers, flight patrols and Humvee armor under a budget proposal designed to “take back the roads,” House leaders said Wednesday.

The $512.9 billion budget, passed 60-1 by the House Armed Services Committee, is more than $73 billion above what Pentagon officials and the president requested.

Most of that difference is $50 billion inserted by House officials to pay for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, in an effort to avoid the semiannual emergency spending bills Congress has faced in recent years.

But anti-IED devices and other force-protection measures also make up a large portion of the difference. The measure would set aside $110 million for radio frequency jamming devices, including $69 million for smaller handheld models which can be used by foot patrols.

[driftdiver]

"Maybe it’s time to go back to using the term “mines” for some of the devises?"

Thats an interesting point. If we used a similiar device the ugly term mine would be used and the UN would be all over us.

[TXnMA]

This officer described to me a military that has been ineffective in confronting the IED threat for three reasons: (1) overdependence on technology-based solutions; (2) a stifling culture of bureaucracy; and (3) a failure to compile accurate information on each IED attack.

• (1) overdependence on technology-based solutions; That's the good ol' "American Way" -- especially in the military -- where there is seldom sufficient commonsense to apply the "KISS" principle. (Besides, there is lots more glory for the 'brass hat' bozos in throwing money at a "Star Trek" program than there is in doing on-the-ground work in the hot desert...) OTOH, if (3) below had been done, the data could be used to task FLIR-equipped UAVs to scan "IED corridors" for the heat signatures of pavement-softening fires...

• (2) a stifling culture of bureaucracy; It's the U.S. military, folks -- landlords of the world's largest "cubile drone" building (the Pentagon). FWIW, that bureaucracy is the main reason I left the military for private industry; at least losers can sometimes be fired "out here in the world"...

• (3) a failure to compile accurate information on each IED attack. Un-be-lievable! With all the stat-counting and computer use in the (2) bureaucracy, it is amazing that there is not a cubbyhole full of drones somewhere in the bowels of the Pentagon with this specific mission. IMHO, the field troops should be able to pull up a zoomable, date-filterable, clickable map -- showing the UTM coordinatess (GPS location) of every IED attack -- on their laptops... :-(

[TXnMA]

The [GPS] location reported may be several hundred meters from the site of the actual blast.

Moo-sake! My $200 hand-held civilian GPS consistently (verified by repeated-over-time readings of benchmark locations) provides UTM coordinates with accuracy of less than five meters. This can be improved considerably by averaging coordinates from multiple readings...

[Steel Wolf]

The coalition maintains a database of IED attacks, but it seems insufficient for the task at hand. For example, the current database does not track the type of vehicles that were in the movement that was attacked, how many vehicles there were, or whether they were on patrol or part of a convoy. It does not track whether casualties were the result of a single IED or a subsequent IED targeting troops responding to the initial blast--a tactic frequently employed by the insurgents. Additional information, such as how many personnel were in the targeted vehicle and what part of the vehicle was targeted (right, left, front, underside, or roof) is critical, but also isn't tracked.

This is simply not true. I've read dozens and dozens of forensic reports on IEDs by EOD cells who respond to the scene and evaluate the damage. Those reports are so in depth they make an episode of CSI look like Scooby Doo.

[milwguy]

The IED Manhattan Project is a joke, ripe with corruption. Perfect example is IOTN a company which has not fielded a product and the Dems Including Hillary Clinton and Barb Boxer are supporting big time. John Podesta (Bill Clintons former chief of staff) has a sister in law who is a lobbyist for these crooks. Under the guise of protecting our troops from IED's this company is receiving large contracts for a bogus product the military says can't even be deployed in battle, is slow and has to be operated by remote control. Our troops die while politicians ladle out our tax dollars to corrupt companies who are politiclly connected.

[centurion316]

The IED Manhattan Project is a joke, ripe with corruption.

Your example doesn't prove your point. I first met Ionatron about 30 minutes after they walked out of the DEP SEC DEF's office and 35 minutes after we got a call from same telling us we needed to look at their wonderful technology. We did. It sucked. We said so. So Ionatron turned to the press and to politicians who are more than happy to give them money for their bug zapper.

Corruption, yes. But its not the IED folks who are supporting it - As you point out, credit our wonderful elected officials and political appointees

[milwguy]

sorry if you mistook my comments for criticism of the entire project. I should have been more clear, just like Katrina, politicians use real world problems to line the pockets of political allies. Finding ways to counter IED's is an essential task, but leaving politicians in charge of funding that research is a recipe for diasaster.

[centurion316]

IED's are a problem because they are the ONLY way that the insurgents can produce U.S. casualties. They can't attack us on the ground, mortar and rocket attacks seldom produce casualties, and they can't shoot straight.

Michael Goldfarb has talked to some sorehead with an axe to grind. Much of what he says just isn't true.

IED attacks have changed markedly in number and character over the last three years. There are more of them, but they are much less effective. Countermeasures have worked well, but the enemy has responded with EFP's, and very large explosives. 500 pounds of explosive will always produce casualties if detonated under ANY vehicle, and the enemy will always be able to pull off one of these type attacks every week or so.

Right now, the press are the most effective weapon that the insurgents have. They can sit in their hotels in the Green Zone and wait for their stringers to bring them video of IED attacks to support their campaign to convince the American people to run away. Its beginning to look like one or two American deaths per day are all it takes to defeat the U.S. anywhere in the world. Certainly, at least one political party thinks so.

[centurion316]

but leaving politicians in charge of funding that research is a recipe for diasaster.

Unfortunately true, but they have that Constitutional power and our only recourse is at the ballot box.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

The American and British MSM are infowar operators for the jihadis. The MSM have adopted them as they did the North Vietnamese in 1968. The active duty Information Operations and Public Affairs people cannot deal with hostile media effectively, because half of their political masters in the Congress are part of that same lib/left/Marxist/anti-war nexus.

Citizens are going to have to do for the military what it cannot do for itself.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[centurion316]

I watched an interesting program last night that showed how effective the anti-war effort was in the U.S. during World War I. That is, until the British started an IO campaign with the U.S. press to change public opinion in support of the British. Seems they controlled the trans-Atlantic cables and therefore all of the info on the war that flowed to the U.S. media.

We did the same thing in WWII, and none other than Capt. Ronald Reagan, USAAF, was a part of a very effective Info Ops campaign. Can't happen today since the MSM has publicly declared for the other side.