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New vehicles allow GIs to find, remove hidden IEDs
EFL:Using recently fielded mine detection vehicles, soldiers from Company C, 489th Engineer Battalion are hunting roadside bombs similar to those that have killed and maimed dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq over the past six months. Equipped with South African-designed vehicles â the Meerkat and the Buffalo â the Arkansas-based Army Reserve troops have taken an Army side project to the forefront in the militaryâs efforts to counter the threat of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Insurgents aiming to demoralize the U.S.-led coalition often stage ambushes with crude explosives hidden among debris along convoy routes or buried near roads. The platoon of combat engineers, who had been working odd jobs in Kuwait, are now sweeping major convoy routes in central Iraq to clear highway shoulders and medians. Cramped in the single seat Meerkat, Spc. Stephen Fowler, 22, of Fayetteville, Ark., examined a stretch of Highway 1 last week with the tractorâs powerful winglike metal detectors. âWe have certain audible tones when we find something,â Fowler said. An ink jet marks the spot. Soldiers in the heavily armored Buffalo pry suspicious objects from the ground with a remote-controlled fork. Sappers â engineers trained in explosives â can then demolish the device.
The operation caught the attention of top brass, said Lt. Col. Kent Savre, commander of the Fort Lewis Wash.-based 864th Engineer Battalion, the teamâs higher headquarters. Savre, 43, of Edina, Minn., recommended that the Army supply one system to each division in Iraq. Three weeks after filing the request, a half-dozen more sets were shipped out, Savre said. For a old hand like myself, thatâs warpspeed. âIâve never seen anything like this in my 19 years in the Army,â Savre said. âThe senior leaders saw the threat and immediately bought more [systems].â Both the Fallujah-based 82nd Airborne Division and the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit sent troops to Balad to train for clearing missions in their sectors. Another team recently deployed to southern Iraq to begin work there. âTheyâre figuring it out and morphing this equipment into something useful,â said Col. Gregg Martin, commander of the 130th Engineer Brigade, who oversees much of the Armyâs engineers in Iraq. âThis is cutting-edge stuff.â Outstanding, thereâs photos at the link. Posted by: Steve 2004-01-05 |
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