The IED killer we've been waiting on?
Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 12:10AM 
USA Today article with very good news: “The military has developed technology that uses a high-tech beam to detonate hidden IEDs . . ..”
The only downside: it seems to operate on a wide space, revealing the bombs in the process and—under the right conditions—puts locals in danger IF they’re not forewarned about such countering operations (you know, a blaring voice in the local language announcing that in the next five minutes, everybody should stay clear of roads).
US Marine Corps general James Mattis says, “This is an offensive capability that will change the face of this war.”
I wouldn’t call it “offensive” but resiliently defensive—in effect, we tell the enemy, “All your long and hard and stealthy work gets negated by the flip of our switch, meaning you kill nobody in the process.”
But the “offensive” part comes in the beam’ ability to trigger IEDs while insurgents/terrorists are potentially carrying them or even when they’re under construction.
Mattis advocates putting the technology on aircraft (presumably drones too) and having them sweep areas proactively.
Naturally, the Pentagon announces the capability while providing no details, as countering tactics will invariably ensue. To what effect? We shall see.
But this is indeed good news and a development that bears close watching.
The Office of Naval Research is credited with the development.
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Reader Comments (6)
Very good news indeed!!
If this works, it is going to force a dramatic change in tactics for the enemy. IED's can still be detonated by wire or timer but both methods have drawbacks. Wire is difficult to conceal and timers require too much "luck" to be effective against moving targets.
Congratulations to the folks who developed this technology.
Will the Iranians start working on something to counter our technology?
Having worked a portion of the IED problem on the ground in Iraq in 2009 this development is welcome. However, I hope that GEN Mattis knows the limitations and likely counter-tactics that this is likely to incite from the IED laying crowd. Predetonation has a lot of risks and they better tread carefully or the cure could be worse than the disease. I hope it turns out to be a major success.
Beware of the Pentagon Acquisition system,
While Sec Gates has made great strides in fielding equipment for today's wars I am wary of "great inventions" that promise to rapidly end a conflict so our troops can come home. If this is some kind of directed energy device - then just look at the fiasco of the Active Denial System which was supposed to be a next generation, non-lethal way to disperse unruly crowds. An effective system in demos but It never made it to the field. This war is so politicized that intl lawyers, IRC, Congress etc will get involved and put a stop to this cruel "imperialist" weapon being used on simple Afghan villagers. If that doesn't stop it then the military procurement folks will morph it into something ineffectual in 3 to 4 years. I have a son in the army so I would like to believe otherwise but I have lived w/in the "Iron Triangle" for too long to have any confidence that our defense institutions are capable of taking advantage of this opportunity to save soldiers lives.
Isn't the operative word in IED: improvised?
Look this is a fantastic move forward, the Australians lost two more engineers and a dog a few days ago, IED, and anything that can sort this problem out is great.
Yes they will come back with a more improvised strategy, and we will have to learn to counter that, but its important that we take steps forward.