Posted on 10/04/2005 9:16:21 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The Anbar Campaign intensifies and Zarqawi's "Islamic Republic of Haditha" is in jeopardy. The Coalition including Iraqi Army units have launched Operation Bawwabatu Annaher (River Gate) and are taking the fight to Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana. This operation is being conducted in conjunction with Operation Iron Fist in the Qaim region, and Operation Hiba (Mountaineers) in Ramadi (which we discussed last nig
(Excerpt) Read more at billroggio.com ...
10 to 1 that while his "troops and comrades" are fighting the Great Satan, Zarqawi himself is far from the action, listening to radio reports between rounds of hot sex with his favorite pigs and goats.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Sword and Shield
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I've put together some resources for readers who want to follow the campaign along the Euphrates River leading to the Syrian border. To begin with, many of the town names (such as Sa'dah) are obscure and not clearly marked on normal atlases or maps. And newspapers have a maddening habit of saying 'a town near the border' without giving the reader any spatial concept of the operations as they relate to one another.
See link above for Wretchard's excellent work including coordinates of significant towns and Maps.
Very likely he is in Damascus or some lovely suburban locale.
This is awesome. Falluja was a strategic victory as will be Qaim. We will then control the upstream and downstream exits of the river and flow to the middle.
Controlling all of this river will surely crush Zarqawi.
Lots of goats in Damascus....
October 04, 2005
Iraqi Army in Ramadi - Operation Mountaineers
By Bill Roggio
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Coalition forces continue to battle with insurgents in an effort to secure Ramadi. Over the past two weeks several incidents of fighting have been reported. John Carlson, a reported embedded with 224th Engineer Battalion of the Iowa National Guard writes "It's noon Monday in Ramadi as I write this (4 a.m. in Iowa) and there's been a big battle underway in the city. You can hear the machine gun fire from Camp Ramadi." The evidence points to low level clashes, however.
Mr. Carlson describes an IED (improvised explosive device) hunter patrol manned by the engineers of the 224th. The soldiers use a vehicle called a Buffalo which is specifically designed to find and root out roadside bombs and underground mines. It has been so effective that jihadis have immortalized it with graffiti imploring others to "Kill the Claw" the long arm of the Buffalo that digs for IEDs.
The patrol of the 224th digs up several IEDs until the claw is put out off commission. The accompanying Marines and other patrols in the area report several firefights with insurgents. The Guardian reports an Iraqi Army patrol was attacked, and fought back. Effectively.
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Above is an excerpt...see link for a map and further detail.
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"A few months ago, spray-painted graffiti began appearing on Baghdad walls," reports Defense News' Greg Grant. "'Kill the Claw,'" it read in Arabic.
The message was aimed at a new vehicle called the Buffalo, a thickly armored mine disposal truck that seeks out and disposes of deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Its 30-foot retractable arm has a camera, to help the operator inside see what hes doing, and a claw-like rake for finding and detonating the roadside bombs.
The insurgents graffiti was not quite the advertising campaign expected by Buffalo manufacturer Force Protection, but it is a testament to how effective the 24-ton vehicle has proven in neutralizing the biggest killer of American troops in Iraq. Since its introduction in late 2003, the Buffalo has become the favorite of U.S. Army combat engineer teams.
Grant's right. I spent a fair amount of time with engineer teams in Baghdad this summer, and they all raved about the vehicle. Not just because they were well-protected. But also because the thing had a kick-ass air conditioning system, too. And comfortable seats -- which is important on a 12-hour route clearance shift.
However, Grant gets it wrong when he says that "so far, nobody has been injured while riding in one of the vehicles, which have taken repeated IED hits with only minimal damage to exterior components."
I talked to several soldiers who had Buffalo-riding buddies injured by the handmade bombs -- and by their own thick skulls. These guys would dig up an explosive with the Buffalo's spindly claw. And then, they'd be so proud of what they found, they'd want to snap a quick picture of their prize. So they'd use the claw to bring the bomb right up to the Buffalo's cab. And then, the IED would go off.
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It's not much. But I've got a leeetle more information on the military's hush-hush defense against improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.
The Warlock radio frequency jammers are made by the New York and Simi Valley firm EDO. And they're based on an earlier EDO product called the Shortstop Electronic Protection System, which is designed to protect troops against proximity-fused weapons, like mortar rounds and artillery shells. According to EDO, Shortstop grabs the electronic signal that one of these weapons makes, "modifies the signal and sends it back to the weapon making the fuze think it is close to the ground. The fuze then prematurely detonates the warhead rendering the weapon essentially harmless."
The Warlock doesn't do anything quite so dramatic. Instead, "it basically works by intercepting the signal sent from a remote location to the IED instructing it to detonate," an Army official told Inside Defense (which has a wrap-up of all its recent IED stories here.) "The signal 'cannot make contact, therefore when it cant make contact it doesnt detonate,' much like a cellular phone call that does not connect, he added. "The cell phone never gets through, but [enemy forces] think it go through."
The jammers come in two flavors, each interrupting different frequency bands. Warlock Green connects off of the 24V DC power supply of any military vehicle, an Army document notes. Warlock Red is "designed to connect off the cigarette lighter and/or 12V DC power supply."
THERE'S MORE: "The Army is testing a new method of intercepting improvised explosive devices that relies on an up-armored humvee and two types of vehicles designed in South Africa to withstand blasts from land mines," Inside Defense also notes.
$2.9 million will pay for two "Hunter/Killer" teams, each with an up-armored humvee, an enhanced RG31 Medium Mine Protection vehicle, and a bulldozer-like Buffalo Explosive Ordnance Disposal vehicle, the magazine says.
U.S. forces -- including the 82nd Airborne's Task Force Pathfinder -- have been using the vehicles since the beginning of the year. According to an Army public affairs story, soldiers like the RG31 because it's built to withstand a bomb (more on how that's done here) and because it's roomy. "Like riding in an armored Cadillac," one soldier quips.
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RG-31 Mine Protected Vehicle
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Mine / IED protected Vehicles Design Principles
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Mine / IED protected Vehicles
Design Principles
Page 4 out of 4 in this article
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MTVR Medium Truck Protection Kits
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New protection suits were recently introduced for the Oshkosh Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement truck (MTVR), used by the US Marine Corps. The corps is planning to protect 3,000 of its 3,600 trucks. Plasan Sasa has also introduced an MTVR armoring solution. Plasan and Oshkosh recently won a $144 million US Marine Corps contract to supply 796 ECP-58 Armor Kits for MTVR trucks, based on Plasan Sasa's protection systems. According to the Pentagon release, 75% of the work will be done by Plasan Sasa in Israel. The Marine Corps has options to add 124 additional kits as an options, which could bring the total value of the contract to $204 million. The new kits were designed specifically for the MTVR and include cabin protection and armor plating of the cargo bed as well as suspension upgrades and air-conditioning systems. The armor is designed to enable the occupants to return fire behind protected positions. The trucks will be delivered through 2005 starting in the first quarter. The solution provides ballistic and mine protection against various small arms and IED threats. Armor Systems International (ASI) has also proposed an armor kit for the truck. This kit weighs 6,700 lbs and includes the armor, transparent armor windshield and windows. The cab weight is 2,200 lb, and the armor protection for the cargo bed weighs 4,500 lbs. The kit includes LLM blast mitigation system for mine/blast protection.
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