The on-the-ground reality of today’s battlefield is starkly unbalanced: a hulking mass of armor on four-wheels can be rendered inoperable from a couple hundred dollars worth of gadgetry, wiring and explosives.
Military officials have recognized that no one combat vehicle platform will neutralize the threat posed by improvised explosive devices. As a result, the Defense Department’s Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) was asked to fund, develop, test and field a “counter IED vehicle kit” that can help enhance troop protection.
“We’re not in the platform business, but the kit we do provide to the services enhances vehicle protection against IED blast effects,” says Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, JIEDDO’s director.
Industry participants in the project include Syracuse Research Corp., ITT, General Dynamics, Pearson Engineering, Fassi, FASCAN International and several other companies.
During the early days of the insurgency in Iraq, radio-controlled IEDs, bombs triggered from mobile phones and other household wireless equipment, were widespread and lethal threats to combat vehicles. At their highest point, radio-triggered IEDs accounted for nearly 80 percent of all roadside bombs found in theater.
In response, the U.S. military began placing radio-frequency jammers on its combat vehicles to neutralize these attacks. Unfortunately, these early jammer efforts — classified under the umbrella of CREW (Counter Radio-Controlled IED Electronic Warfare) devices — had limited usability and interoperability with other fielded electronics devices.
To date, JIEDDO has delivered more than 37,000 jammers to theater. The majority of these devices are mounted and are present in nearly every convoy operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Senior leaders from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have participated in the jammer development initiatives.
Once fielded, JIEDDO and commanders in the field work to get the jammer kits properly installed.
“We work to find space on the vehicle platform, cool the jammer, account for power constraints and ensure interoperability with the vehicle’s communications equipment,” explains Catherine Norman, who oversees JIEDDO initiative assessments.
Jammer systems, such as the ubiquitous vehicle-mounted “Duke” device, are relatively easy to use. Especially trained electronic warfare officers and field service representatives are deployed in-country to provide technical and operational support.
To maximize the range of vehicle-mounted jammers and to ensure they work on interoperable frequencies, JIEDDO coordinated the development of the “convoy planning tool.”
The software package calculates the range provided by jammers in the convoy, and takes into account a number of variables. The system was transitioned from JIEDDO to the Navy in 2008.
As a result of these efforts, radio devices now account for 20 percent of IED triggers — a significant improvement since 2003.
The success of vehicle-mounted jammers, however, was a double-edged sword. While radio-controlled IEDs were neutralized, a disturbingly wide variety of IEDs and associated trigger mechanisms now appear in theater.
One of the most lethal against armored combat vehicles is the victim-operated pressure-plate — also referred to as “underbelly” IED.
A vehicle-mounted roller was developed by JIEDDO in collaboration with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC).
The vehicle add-on, called the self-protection adaptive roller kit system (SPARKS), is designed to pre-detonate pressure-triggered bombs and allow the roller to take the brunt of the blast.
More than 300 systems are now active in Iraq and Afghanistan. SPARKS has significantly reduced the effectiveness of individual IED attacks against armored vehicles.
Pearson Engineering, manufacturer of the SPARK system and a long-time mine-roller partner of the Army, worked with JIEDDO and TARDEC to develop a modular, easily repairable design.
The roller can be installed on a variety of vehicles, such as the Humvee and the RG-31 mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles. Mounting the heavy roller to the bracket can be done within minutes.
“Operation is almost as easy as the installation of the rollers,” says Robin Gullifer, deputy product manager of IED defeat/protect force at the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center.
“Once mounted, the rollers scrape along the ground to pre-detonate pressure-plate IEDs. Units are trained with SPARK systems by field service representatives in-theater,” explains Gullifer.
”Production of the rollers requires the integration of multiple parts from vendors,” says Army Lt. Col. Karl Borjes, IED defeat/protect force product manager. “It’s a timely process, given the long-lead items. We require a few months for the first units available to start shipping.”
To supplement the jammer and roller systems that are mounted on combat vehicles, JIEDDO has also developed a set of interrogation arms — hulking claws outfitted with metal detectors and camera, set on flexible mechanical arms.
“Today’s interrogation arms are designed to give armored vehicle platforms such as the MRAP the ability to detect and neutralize a roadside bomb while the crew sits protected in its vehicle,” says Erin Sherman, a participant in the project.
The interrogation arms already have been installed on the Buffalo MRAP vehicle. Theater commanders asked JIEDDO to revamp the arms and broaden distribution to the smaller Husky vehicle in Iraq and to select RG-31 vehicles in Afghanistan.
“Once installed the system is very easy to operate,” says Jonathan Agnew, a trainer for JIEDDO’s mitigate program. “The biggest challenge in the beginning is remembering which control lever operates which movement.”
The initial user training was accomplished in a standard 8-10 hour day, Agnew says. “Every unit that received a system was encouraged to continue practicing their interrogation techniques with special attention to the controller.”
In April 2007, a lighter, more useful arm became available for faster, nimbler up-armored vehicles. “Imagine you are inspecting a suspected IED and you intend for the crane to raise but you make a mistake and push the controller in the wrong direction and the crane lowers instead,” Agnew says, recalling his theater experience. “You get the point on the importance of sustainment training.”
The arms operate in the same way as those on the Buffalo, providing a consistent “switchology” across the board. Field service representatives from the Army’s ManTech program install the arms, and train operators on the use of the system.
JIEDDO also has upgraded combat vehicles with sensors that help operators detect insurgents who place roadside bombs.
The vehicle optics sensor system (VOSS) is used to detect IED triggermen and for surveillance of bomb emplacement on the roads.
VOSS incorporates multiple cameras — infrared, color and image intensifying — with gyroscopic stabilizers and telescoping masts to create a top-to-bottom, day-and-night surveillance system.
Installation takes about 10 hours, most of which is spent modifying the vehicle on which VOSS is mounted. Training typically takes four to six hours per student. The controller is easy to operate, like a joystick. JIEDDO recently upgraded the system with continuous zoom.
To date, more than 200 packages have been delivered, mounted and installed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
To provide realistic training on armored combat vehicles and kits at military training ranges, JIEDDO offers “surrogate” duplicates. Surrogates operate almost identically to full model equipment, which allows pre-deployment training centers such as the National Training Center in Ft. Irwin, Calif., to closely replicate theater situations.
Michael Coderre is a public affairs specialist and writer at the Joint IED Defeat Organization.