Congressman Hunter has an answer to Taliban's new IED tactic
Image via WikipediaInsurgents in Afghanistan have changed tactics in how they place deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs), prompting a war-veteran congressman to propose a relatively simple technique to find and detonate them.There is more.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Marine Corps reserve officer who saw combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, noted that Marines and soldiers are being maimed and killed by foot-deep pressure-activated mines.
The Taliban is creating belts of such IEDs around villages that U.S. troops approach by foot. Mr. Hunter said the IED ring is a relatively new implement in the 10-year-old war.
The enemy had put more focus on burying much larger explosives along roads to blow up armored vehicles and kill multiple troops in one blast.
But in a cat-and-mouse contest, the U.S. became skilled at constantly monitoring roads using high-flying spy aircraft, spotting bomb placers and then calling in helicopter gunships to kill them.
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“What they’ve now done is put pressure plates, basically land mines, like the Viet Cong used to do, in defensive perimeters around the villages,” Mr. Hunter said. “Our Marines walk through, and there is enough explosive to either kill the Marine or solider or take off two legs, or one leg or two legs and an arm. Sometimes killing them. Sometimes not.”
IEDs are the biggest killers of U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan, accounting for at least 57 percent of battlefield fatalities each year since 2007. This year, of 93 allied fatalities, of which 79 were U.S., 57 came from IEDs, according to the website iCasualties.org.
Several weeks ago, Mr. Hunter and a private contractor discussed a simple solution: Provide each Marine approaching a village on foot with a heavy robot affixed with a 3-foot-wide conveyor belt. The Marine could remotely control the vehicle so it travels far enough ahead of him that a triggered blast would not injure any troops.
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This approach is probably cheaper than assigning a Caterpillar to each Marine unit. It is definitely cheaper than paying for patching up wounded and maimed Marines and servicemen. There is a photo of the robot devices he has in mind at the link above.
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