Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Inside The Pentagon
February 14, 2008
Pg. 14
While attacks involving sophisticated, armor-piercing roadside bombs have ebbed recently in Iraq, coalition forces in Afghanistan are seeing a rise in the use of more primitive roadside bombs, the general overseeing the Defense Department’s efforts to counter improvised explosive devices said yesterday.
Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz said the decline in attacks involving so-called explosively formed penetrators is due in part to the efforts of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, which he oversees.
“We found some caches, and we’re focused on the networks that are employing them,” he said in a briefing with reporters, referring to efforts to stop the proliferation of the armor-piercing charges in Iraq.
An EFP consists of a concave-shaped copper plate that shapes into a fast-moving projectile upon the detonation of an explosive charge underneath it.
Metz said JIEDDO officials are working on ways to make the characteristic copper plates of EFPs visible to nearby ground forces through the use of radar and other sensors.
Pentagon officials requested $500 million for JIEDDO in the base budget for fiscal year 2009. Of that amount, $300 million would fund the organization’s efforts to trace the supply of material and people to the networks of bomb makers; $90 million would go to training U.S. troops in counter-IED tactics; and $100 million would cover the organization’s costs of staff and infrastructure.
Officials are slated to unveil a supplemental spending request for FY-09 this spring that includes an additional $3 billion for JIEDDO, Metz said. Of that amount, $335 million would be earmarked for the organization’s “attack the network” mission; $1.6 billion would be spent on counter-IED equipment; and $500 million would go toward training, he said.
For FY-08, DOD officials requested a total of $4.4 billion.
In Afghanistan, Taliban forces are increasingly using improvised explosive devices to attack coalition forces, Metz told reporters. “They have learned from Iraq,” he said.
But, compared to Iraq, the bombs used in Afghanistan are primitive, with insurgents using trip wire or pressure plates to set them off. Charts provided to reporters show sharp spikes in IED attacks during the spring, summer and fall months there.
Metz said JIEDDO officials try to outfit ground forces in both countries with the same protective measures against IEDs.
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, which are now deployed in both countries, have proven particularly valuable, Metz said.
“The V-shaped hull, the armor that it does have, the way they’re designed, has been very helpful, and there are an abundance of stories of soldiers and Marines that have walked away from an MRAP that took on a pretty hefty explosion,” he said.
-- Sebastian Sprenger
February 14, 2008
Pg. 14
While attacks involving sophisticated, armor-piercing roadside bombs have ebbed recently in Iraq, coalition forces in Afghanistan are seeing a rise in the use of more primitive roadside bombs, the general overseeing the Defense Department’s efforts to counter improvised explosive devices said yesterday.
Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz said the decline in attacks involving so-called explosively formed penetrators is due in part to the efforts of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, which he oversees.
“We found some caches, and we’re focused on the networks that are employing them,” he said in a briefing with reporters, referring to efforts to stop the proliferation of the armor-piercing charges in Iraq.
An EFP consists of a concave-shaped copper plate that shapes into a fast-moving projectile upon the detonation of an explosive charge underneath it.
Metz said JIEDDO officials are working on ways to make the characteristic copper plates of EFPs visible to nearby ground forces through the use of radar and other sensors.
Pentagon officials requested $500 million for JIEDDO in the base budget for fiscal year 2009. Of that amount, $300 million would fund the organization’s efforts to trace the supply of material and people to the networks of bomb makers; $90 million would go to training U.S. troops in counter-IED tactics; and $100 million would cover the organization’s costs of staff and infrastructure.
Officials are slated to unveil a supplemental spending request for FY-09 this spring that includes an additional $3 billion for JIEDDO, Metz said. Of that amount, $335 million would be earmarked for the organization’s “attack the network” mission; $1.6 billion would be spent on counter-IED equipment; and $500 million would go toward training, he said.
For FY-08, DOD officials requested a total of $4.4 billion.
In Afghanistan, Taliban forces are increasingly using improvised explosive devices to attack coalition forces, Metz told reporters. “They have learned from Iraq,” he said.
But, compared to Iraq, the bombs used in Afghanistan are primitive, with insurgents using trip wire or pressure plates to set them off. Charts provided to reporters show sharp spikes in IED attacks during the spring, summer and fall months there.
Metz said JIEDDO officials try to outfit ground forces in both countries with the same protective measures against IEDs.
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, which are now deployed in both countries, have proven particularly valuable, Metz said.
“The V-shaped hull, the armor that it does have, the way they’re designed, has been very helpful, and there are an abundance of stories of soldiers and Marines that have walked away from an MRAP that took on a pretty hefty explosion,” he said.
-- Sebastian Sprenger