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Countering the IED and VIED will remove a major weapon from the terrorist's bag of tricks The technology being deployed after much research into the problem may tip the scales in our favor Looking forward to see how this works in the field

Maybe they can pre-detonate the IEDs 500 miles inside the Iranian and Syrian borders.

The cell phone industry could help here too, by
building phones that respond to a signal to make
an "idle ring".

Cell towers in high-threat locations could issue
such commands at random times to all phones in
their coverage.

Bombers would quickly cease using cell phones as
timers, triggered either by calls or by self-alarms,
if the was significant risk of early detonation.

It is about time. We are slow to react.

More from the article:

Sattler would not confirm that high-power microwave (HPM) devices are being used to pre-detonate IEDs, but the Pentagon and aerospace industry officials acknowledge that such technology has been developed and tested in the U.S. "The intimidation of pre-detonation will shut [bombers] down many notches," he predicts. "There is some pre-detonation on the battlefield now. I will also say there are some sharp people . . . increasing that capability."

Current technologies for finding IEDs have topped out in their ability to locate these devices at about 50%. Most U.S. casualties continue to be from IEDs or automobile-borne bombs, some of them used in suicide missions.

Alliant Techsystems developed an HPM system that last fall exploded 75% of the mines planted in a range near Yuma, Ariz. Support for the technology from the Air Force Research Laboratory indicates that it may be destined for use from aircraft. It's the first HPM system ruggedized for transport. Raytheon also has developed and fielded an adjunct system that uses an uncooled infrared sensor powerful enough to detect buried mines but light enough to be carried by unmanned aircraft. It also was to have been deployed to Iraq this summer.

Another approach to mitigating the danger of IEDs involves correlating large amounts of intelligence and surveillance data to determine the time of day and locations where such weapons are often planted. Observers monitor those sectors from aircraft or hidden sniper posts with fast-reaction forces standing by. In one new, specialized project, researchers have begun targeting enemy planners, organizers, suppliers and bomb makers in their homes and workshops before attacks can be launched. The effort is based on fusing intelligence to the basic building blocks of ground moving-target indicator data gathered by Joint Stars, U-2 and other aircraft. The data can be played backward to see where the bombers and vehicles came from.

SATTLER BECAME a target for critics when he said the battle of Falluja last year broke the back of the Iraqi insurgency. He stands behind his proclamation by pointing to the elimination of the city as a safe haven for insurgents and remnants of the former regime of Saddam Hussein. Sattler points to the end there of the production of vehicle-borne improvised explosives and the training and equipping of suicide bombers. He also notes they found up to 600 caches of weapons, bomb-making materials and chambers where torture was being filmed. After the town was cleaned up, the Marines noticed that the effectiveness and number of insurgent attacks declined because "the A-team and trainers are gone," Sattler says. However, he admits the insurgents are making the attempt to regain some presence.

The measures of success in Iraq have grown more sophisticated as the conflict goes on, Sattler asserts. About the time of the Falluja offensive, he wrongly thought success was the "number of Iraqi security forces in uniform standing in formation in the morning," Sattler says. "The metric was how many do we have. We weren't focusing on capability at that point. When the fighting started in April in the first Falluja fight, we [had] not set them up for success [with proper training and equipment]. They were a brand-new force. As anybody who was pragmatic would do, they said this is not going to work and they laid their weapons down and evaporated."

The Marines have since established standards for equipment, training and leadership. In some cases, they had to disband units (particularly Iraqi National Guard) because the loyalties of locally recruited soldiers were first to the family, the tribe, friends and only then to the rule of law, he says. As a result, Iraqi soldiers and policemen are now stationed outside their home province. A second effort was a counter-intimidation program so that officials and their families aren't constantly under threat of assassination. The concern is to "intimidate the intimidators" while still meeting moral and legal standards, says Sattler.

Marine detachments now team with and mentor Iraqi security forces, provide them with logistics, artillery and close air support, and support them in counter-insurgency operations. "Nor do they put them into battle before they are ready," he says. Other initiatives being thrown into the fight include: *Biometric devices such as retina scans so that Iraqis can be positively identified (and the information transferred from city to city).

...high-power microwave (HPM) devices are being used... The intimidation of pre-detonation will shut [bombers] down many notches...

Not to be a wet blanket, but it can't be that difficult to shield the bomb circuitry enough to defeat a "pre-detonation" EM pulse.

Necessity is the mother of invention.......

Many technological advances occur in times of war.

I hope and pray that this equipment works but lets not forget that the greatest enemy in this war is not terrorist in Iraq. The greatest enemy is the left in our own country who for political reasons would much prefer that we abandon and thus loose this war.

The current goal is to find a way "to not jam, but to pre-detonate" IEDs or vehicle-borne bombs, says Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

Now that could REALLY ruin some buttholes day for sure..... LOL!

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on the Fastrack anti-IED front these are being rushed to IRAQ ASAP Posted on Tue, Jul. 26, 2005 Bomb-busters in the pipeline Pentagon working to counter deadly improvised explosives in Iraq BY DREW BROWN Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — As Iraqi insurgents become more skilled at hiding deadly roadside bombs, the Pentagon is scrambling to find new ways to protect American troops. U.S. military officials estimate these improvised explosive devices, the military's term for booby-trapped or remote-detonated bombs, have caused as many as 70 percent of the casualties — dead and wounded — in Iraq. An improvised explosive devices, or IED, task force at the Defense Department has spent $852 million since 2004 on projects to reduce the threat of the weapons, and $145 million more is in the pipeline, task force spokesman Richard Bridges said. Bridges and others cautioned that technology is no silver bullet, because insurgents keep getting better at building makeshift bombs and more creative in hiding and using them. Still, some inventions sound promising. Two American companies have developed devices that are meant to take the bang out of the bombs before they explode, and they hope to test them in Iraq in coming months. Alliant Techsystems of Edina announced last month that it had won a $1.5 million contract from the Air Force to develop its Scorpion II Demonstration System, which uses high-powered microwave energy to neutralize explosive devices. The system also works from a distance, though the company won't say how far or provide details except to say it was effective 74 percent of the time in tests at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz. "The last thing we want to do is let insurgents know how it works," said Bryce Hallowell, an Alliant spokesman. "But we're trying to move this thing into a deployable system and into the field as quickly as possible." Hallowell said the company hoped to have a unit ready for the field within six months. Ionatron of Tucson is almost ready to send a remote-controlled vehicle that travels up to 35 mph and uses a high-voltage surge of electricity, similar to a lightning bolt, to disable or destroy hidden explosives from up to 1,000 yards away. The company calls it JIN, for Joint IED Neutralizer. The device would sweep dangerous areas clear of bombs before U.S. troops entered. It has proved successful in 90 percent of field tests so far, said Mark Carallo, a company spokesman. Ionatron is under contract with the U.S. military to produce 12 of the devices. Each costs a little less than $1 million to produce, Carallo said. The company unveiled a prototype July 8 at Stennis Space Center, Miss., where it will be produced. Ionatron hopes to have all 12 in Iraq within the next 45 to 60 days, Carallo said. "There is nothing more terrifying to a soldier than going out on patrol and not knowing what's out there," Carallo said. "This is going to allow our soldiers to have confidence that when they go out on patrol that the threat of IEDs is going to be significantly reduced." Improvised explosives have killed and wounded hundreds of American service members since the insurgency began two years ago. The military has tried various ways to protect its people: It has put more armor on vehicles, improved training, issued thousands of electronic jammers to foil detonation by cell phones and other remote-control devices, and increased overhead surveillance of some of the most dangerous areas. The measures have made a difference, according to military officials. Thirty percent to 40 percent of hidden bombs now are found before they explode, and casualty rates per explosion have been reduced by 45 percent since April 2004, according to military records. But insurgents have responded by simply planting more bombs. According to the military, the use of makeshift explosives has risen threefold in the same period, with attacks now averaging 35 per day. Statistics compiled by the Web site Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, which bases its figures on Pentagon news releases, show that improvised explosives killed 36 U.S. soldiers in June and 33 in May, the two worst months since January, when IEDs killed 29 soldiers. As of July 19, IEDs had killed 15 American soldiers in July. "The enemy is adapting all the time, and is always moving on, looking for ways to beat us," Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel, the chief of the Joint IED Defeat Task Force, which is charged with reducing the threat from the explosives, said in a recent interview. "He adapts. He watches what we're doing, watches what our reaction is." During Senate testimony last month, Gen. George Casey, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, said that what American forces need "is a way to set off a blasting cap from a distance." Research into "directed-energy" weapons such as those that Ionatron and Alliant produce appears to hold the most promise. Still, military officials and analysts said there are no easy answers. "There have been a lot of responses, but I don't think there is a solution," said John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Web site with information on security issues. "It's a moving target." Even as Votel and other military officials are quick to say no technology will be a cure-all, the Pentagon is searching anyway. Last spring, the Pentagon called for industry proposals and got 818 responses. The IED task force is evaluating 32 of them and could issue contracts for the most promising ones as early as the end of this month, said Bridges, the task force spokesman. Bridges said not to expect a quick fix. "We're talking months, not weeks, for something we can put our hands on," he said. Even if a silver bullet could be found, the increasing use of suicide car bombs in Iraq presents an even tougher problem. "It is very difficult to defeat a suicide bomber," Votel said. "When you've got someone who's committed to killing themselves … I'm not sure we've got a machine that can read his mind and detect that."

Every time these are published, every time the coalition force is risking their lives. Loose lips sink ships.

"Countering the IED and VIED will remove a major weapon from the terrorist's bag of tricks."

Sorry, but as a person with an electronics background, this weapon seems to me like it could be easily bypassed. The temporary effect will be well appreciated, though.