Improvised explosive device
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- IED is also an abbreviation for the Indo-European Etymological Dictionary by Julius Pokorny.
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a formal name for explosive devices as used in unconventional warfare by terrorists, guerrillas or commando forces in a theater of operations. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the press has often referred to these devices as roadside bombs.
An IED is a device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals and designed to destroy, incapacitate, harass, or distract. It may incorporate military stores, but is normally devised from nonmilitary components.
An IED typically consists of an explosive charge, possibly a booster charge, a detonator and a mechanism either mechanical or electronic, known as the initiation system. IEDs are extremely diverse in design, and may contain any type of firing device or initiator, plus various commercial, military, or contrived chemical or explosive fillers.
Usually, IEDs are of crude design, often failing to detonate. However, terrorist groups have been known to produce sophisticated devices. Highly sophisticated IEDs have been constructed from arming devices scavenged from conventional munitions and easily purchased electronic components, as well as consumer devices such as mobile phones. The degree of sophistication depends on the ingenuity of the designer and the tools and materials available.
These IEDs are mostly conventional high-explosive charges, also known as homemade bombs. However, there is the threat that toxic chemical, biological, or even nuclear (dirty bomb) material can be included to add to the destructive power and psychological effect of the device.
A VBIED is a vehicle borne IED, a U.S. military term describing a car bomb or truck bomb.
Contents |
Detecting and disarming an IED
Since these devices are nonstandard, there are no specific guidelines for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel to use to positively identify or categorize them.
EOD personnel are trained in the render safe and disposal of IEDs. The use of nuclear, biological, or chemical (NBC) material in an IED requires additional precautions. As with other missions, the EOD CP provides the area commander with an assessment of the situation and of support needed to complete the mission.
History of IEDs
Afghanistan
Following the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR on 27 December 1979, the Afghan Mujahideen were supplied with large quantities of military supplies from many Muslim states. Among those supplies were many types of anti-tank mines.
The Afghan Mujahideen preferred to remove the explosives from several foreign anti-tank mines, and combine the explosives in tin cooking-oil cans for a more powerful blast. Often the foreign anti-tank mines were enclosed in plastic containers, making them difficult to detect. By combining the explosives from several mines and placing them in tin-cans, the Afghan Mujahideen made them easier to detect. The Afghan Mujahideen almost always covered their mines with direct fire weapons.
Afghan Mujahideen operating far from the border with Pakistan did not have a ready supply of foreign anti-tank mines. They preferred to make mines from Soviet unexploded ordnance.
The anti-tank mines were rarely triggered by pressure fuses. They were almost always remotely detonated.
Since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban and its supporters have used IEDs against American, ISAF, and Afghan military and civilian vehicles. While the number of such attacks has been far lower than those in Iraq, the number has been steadily increasing.
Chechnya
IEDs have also been popular in Chechnya, where Russian forces are currently engaged in fighting with rebels. While no conrete statistics are available on this matter, bombs have accounted for many Russian deaths in both the First Chechen War (1994-1996) and the Second (1999-present).
Iraq
Beginning in July 2003, the Iraqi insurgency used IEDs—more often referred to as roadside bombs by the press—to target American and Coalition vehicles.
Common locations for placing these bombs include in animal carcasses, soda cans, and boxes. Typically they explode underneath or to the side of the vehicle in cause the maximum amount of damage. However, as vehicle armor was improved on military vehicles, insurgents began placing IEDs in elevated positions such as on road signs or trees, in order to hit less protected areas.
Most of the IEDs in Iraq are made with artillery or mortar shells attached to a detonator, but sometimes they are made with large amounts of explosives.
IEDs have accounted for (as of October 2005) about one-third of all American deaths in Iraq [1]. Despite the increased armor, IEDs have been killing soldiers with greater frequency; in a ten month period in 2005, 302 U.S. soldiers were killed by such devices. [[2] According to the Pentagon, 250,000 tons (of 650,000 tons total) of Iraqi ordnance were looted, providing an endless source of ammunition for the insurgents.[3]
In October 2005, Britain charged that Iran was supplying insurgents with the technological know-how to make shaped charges, which focus the blast upwards and can pierce even the most heavily armed vehicle. Iran has denied this. [4] [5]
Shaped charges should be detonated at a stand-off from the target of about one to two times the diameter of the explosive cone. It therefore seems unlikely that roadside IEDs are making use of shaped charges because the stand-off distance would be much greater. Directional mines are more likely, but would not produce the "plasma-jet" that makes shaped charges so effective.
Another possibility is platter charges. Platter charges are square, rectangular or circular pieces of flat metal (usually steel) with plastic explosives pressed onto one side of the platter. The amount of explosive used is usually equal, by weight, to the weight of the platter. The explosives propell the platter into the target. The effective range can be as far as 50 meters.
The British also charge Iran and Hezbullah of teaching Iraqi fighters to use infrared light beams to trigger IEDs. As the occupation forces become more sophisticated in interrupting radio signals around their convoys, the Iraqis adapt their triggering methods. Thus far the British have failed to present any evidence to substantiate their charges.
Insurgents now use the bombs to target not only American and Coalition vehicles, but Iraqi police and civilian transportation as well.
Lebanon
Hezbollah pioneered the use of IEDs against military forces after the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel. Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1985 but still kept troops stationed in a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah frequently used IEDs to attack Israeli vehicles in this area up until the Israeli withdrawal in May 2000.
One such bomb killed Israeli Brigadier General Erez Gerstein on February 28, 1999, the highest-ranking Israeli to die in Lebanon.
Blast fishing
IEDs have also been used in blast fishing, a dangerous and ecologically destructive practice that is now almost universally illegal. [6]
