| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Iraq | |
| New vehicles allow GIs to find, remove hidden IEDs | |
| 2004-01-05 | |
| EFL: Using recently fielded mine detection vehicles, soldiers from Company C, 489th Engineer Battalion are hunting roadside bombs similar to those that have killed and maimed dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq over the past six months. Equipped with South African-designed vehicles â the Meerkat and the Buffalo â the Arkansas-based Army Reserve troops have taken an Army side project to the forefront in the militaryâs efforts to counter the threat of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Insurgents aiming to demoralize the U.S.-led coalition often stage ambushes with crude explosives hidden among debris along convoy routes or buried near roads. The platoon of combat engineers, who had been working odd jobs in Kuwait, are now sweeping major convoy routes in central Iraq to clear highway shoulders and medians. Cramped in the single seat Meerkat, Spc. Stephen Fowler, 22, of Fayetteville, Ark., examined a stretch of Highway 1 last week with the tractorâs powerful winglike metal detectors. âWe have certain audible tones when we find something,â Fowler said. An ink jet marks the spot. Soldiers in the heavily armored Buffalo pry suspicious objects from the ground with a remote-controlled fork. Sappers â engineers trained in explosives â can then demolish the device.
The operation caught the attention of top brass, said Lt. Col. Kent Savre, commander of the Fort Lewis Wash.-based 864th Engineer Battalion, the teamâs higher headquarters. Savre, 43, of Edina, Minn., recommended that the Army supply one system to each division in Iraq. Three weeks after filing the request, a half-dozen more sets were shipped out, Savre said. For a old hand like myself, thatâs warpspeed. âIâve never seen anything like this in my 19 years in the Army,â Savre said. âThe senior leaders saw the threat and immediately bought more [systems].â Both the Fallujah-based 82nd Airborne Division and the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit sent troops to Balad to train for clearing missions in their sectors. Another team recently deployed to southern Iraq to begin work there. âTheyâre figuring it out and morphing this equipment into something useful,â said Col. Gregg Martin, commander of the 130th Engineer Brigade, who oversees much of the Armyâs engineers in Iraq. âThis is cutting-edge stuff.â Outstanding, thereâs photos at the link. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 They, the bad guys, use our technology. We adapt, they make crayon drawings. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-1-5 11:15:00 PM |
| #2 I sure hope that's phase two... |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-1-5 10:20:04 PM |
| #1 With the devices that the Pakistani's use that jam signals, it would be nice to deploy some devices that rapidly broadcast a signal that activates all the garage door openers in a city at once. A small incovenience to the local residents, the device might whack somebody carrying a bomb, might detonate a series of bombs at unplanned moments, and would generally make the insurgents nervous. At a certain point radio-control technology, might make it feasible to remotely operate several of the trailing vehicles from other trucks in the convoy. If you used a buffalo as the first truck, the insurgents would not necessarily hit a manned vehicle. If one of the lead vehicles and one of the trailing vehicles were fitted with radio direction finders, the signals could be triangulated and a fast response team might be able to surprise the bombers. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-5 2:40:32 PM |