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Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and Convoy Protection
Posted: July 20, 2004

Toronto - Improvised explosive devices have killed and maimed more U.S. service members in Iraq than any other weapon. Designed to explode beneath a passing vehicle, the devices can be detonated by remote control or by an electric charge through an attached wire.

A study earlier this year by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority found that in a 90-day period that ended in December 2003, U.S. forces in Iraq suffered 708 attacks involving the devices, known as IEDs. Of those, 298 attacks caused 718 casualties, more than those injured by rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds combined.

There are also worries that the weapons are becoming deadlier as artillery shells, anti-tank mines and other more powerful explosives are used. IEDs, cheap to build and easy to hide, are "psychological warfare at its most vicious level," the study concluded.

IEDs - Modus Operandi

Improvised explosive devices are currently being used to target coalition forces/personnel soft targets, HUMVEEs and other thin-skinned vehicles. Insurgents typically plant the devices along major supply and travel routes, usually under cover of darkness, and detonate them remotely as the target vehicles pass. As a result, IEDs represent a relatively low-risk means for mounting attacks.

IEDs are called 'command detonated devices' because they require an operator to trigger them at the appropriate moment. They are typically hard wired (with electrical wires between multiple devices and/or leading away from the bomb). Some of the IEDs are remote controlled (with battery powered doorbell devices, pagers, or cell phones as senders and receiving units). Tall buildings or line-of-sight 'observation points' will be near by. Many controllers require a direct line-of-sight to activate the receiver and detonate.

Materials currently being used in the construction of IEDs include 155mm artillery shells, anti-tank mines, diesel fuel in cans, rockets, mortar rounds - basically anything than can be turned into an explosive.

The devices are particularly dangerous because they can be disguised as virtually anything and hidden anywhere. To date, bombs have been concealed as trash in the roadway, cigarette cartons, trash bags, soda cans, milk cans, buckets, burlap bags, cinder blocks, in potholes, tied to telephone poles, and in guard rails and even animal carcasses. As a result, IEDs are very difficult to spot at convoy speeds. This is compounded by the fact that Iraqi roadsides are already littered with regular trash.

IED attacks are frequently followed by ambush using small arms and rocket propelled grenades.

Mitigating the Threat

The military advises its personnel to observe the following practices in order to increase survivability against IED attacks:

• Keep alert, make yourself a "hard target"
• Be prepared for IED attack followed by ambush
• Be and APPEAR vigilant, personnel who look ready to fight back make 'bad' targets - insurgents may choose to wait for the next convoy
• Maintain convoy speed if possible
• Maintain vehicle dispersion
• Be particularly cautious at choke points, e.g., Iraqi vehicle breakdowns, bridges, one-way roads, traffic jams, sharp turns, etc.
• If something causes the convoy to stop, watch your flanks for IEDs
• Wear vests and helmets
• Wear safety or shooting glasses to preserve eyesight from shrapnel
• Intelligence suggests that a blue 'X' on rocks indicates an IED site
• Rehearse actions on 'Contact' for IEDs
• Get out of the 'Kill Zone' fast
• Do not approach the IED
• Before every convoy, personnel should be briefed on the latest IED threats, i.e. what insurgents are currently using and where they have placed them before on chosen routes, etc.
• Trust your instincts. Items you see may make you nervous about the situation or item. It may be the people watching you that makes you nervous or the body language or stress people show may know that something is out there.
• If people move away from you. You know your zone, you have a feel for what is normal. If it doesn’t feel right move out smartly and report it.
• Are the familiar locals there or have they left the area? Knowing your AOR and its inhabitants is a great tool for detection. Most bombers don’t blow up their own neighborhoods and they do not like their pictures taken.
• Presence of news crews may be an indicator. Bomber does not want his picture taken, but he loves to have his dirty work on film.

Attempting to Blunt the Threat

Both the Army and the Marine Corps have an extensive campaign of nighttime patrols to try to catch insurgents in the act of making IEDs or planting them. Robotic devices are also being used to examine and detonate IEDs found by advance scouts and drivers.

Many of the HumVees that are the military's main mode of transportation have been "armored up" to provide more protection against explosive devices.

The military also has a complex system of "convoy protection" to spot and avoid IEDs and, if one explodes, to pursue the bomber.

Although ambushes on convoys were common during the initial invasion last year, the use of IEDs did not appear until months after Baghdad fell.

Caught somewhat by surprise at the proliferation of the IED threat — the Pentagon has begun a crash program to develop a high-tech solution to detecting and neutralizing the devices.

Forward Solutions

Research has centered on a number of advanced means for defeating IEDs. Work is progressing on new vehicle-mounted sensors that will be able to detect explosives at far greater distances than current 'sniffing' devices.

The Pentagon is also investigating the technologies necessary to use radio frequency (RF) directed energy (DE) to help neutralize the electronics used to trigger the IEDs. This technique will provide better stand off range and a wide area of coverage.

Similar work is proceeding on technologies inserted in handheld or vehicle-portable devices which will be able to detect, pinpoint, and selectively jam cell phones and other common remote detonators as soon as they become active. Relatively crude cellphone jammers already exist (and were recently credited with saving the life of Pakistan's president after his motorcade was ambushed this past December). The new models will be much more sensitive and will be able to jam threatening devices more selectively.

Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAV Systems), some already as small as four and a half pounds, are also being actively researched as lead reconnaissance devices to scout for ambushes and IED threats ahead of convoys. The devices have already proved of immense value as combat multipliers in both Afghanistan and Iraq and more advanced units, some equipped with the sensors, optics, and jamming devices mentioned above, are now on the drawing boards as a result. Slightly larger UAVs can also carry weapons systems to actively engage enemy forces from above. News reports have also referenced super-small UAVs the size of insects, so-called 'micro-air vehicles' (MAVs), under development at research labs like DARPA.

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