| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Iraq | ||
| Iraqis using 'new Hizbollah bombs' to kill troops | ||
| 2006-04-30 | ||
Some have been painted to look like concrete blocks - a modification of a tactic used by Iranian-backed Hizbollah, which hollowed out imitation rocks, bought in Beirut garden centres, to conceal bombs targeting Israeli vehicles. A senior defence source said: "There are clear signs of Iran's sinister hand, and through that, Hizbollah, in this development." A Pentagon document obtained by The Sunday Telegraph describes the devices as "well manufactured by experienced bomb makers" and "pioneered by Lebanese Hizbollah". It adds: "The United Kingdom has accused Iran of providing these devices to insurgents in Iraq." Triggered when an infra-red beam is broken, the projectiles are capable of penetrating the armour of 60-ton Abrams tanks. Warrior armoured vehicles and Land Rovers, used by British forces in southern Iraq, offer almost no protection against them. The Sunday Telegraph was the first newspaper to report the use of infra-red triggered devices, believed to be from Iran, against British troops. Since last May, 14 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq, including 12 by roadside bombs made up of EFPs and an infra-red trigger. In February, John Negroponte, America's director of national intelligence, blamed the Iranian government for the spread of such weapons throughout Iraq. He told a United States Senate committee: "Teheran is responsible for at least some of the increasing lethality of anti-coalition attacks in 2005, by providing Shia militants with the capability to build IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices] with explosively formed projectiles, similar to those developed by Iran and Lebanese Hizbollah." Coalition forces recently intercepted an infra-red EFP device being transported into Iraq across the Shatt al-Arab waterway from Iran. Many such devices use a simple motion sensor, made and sold legally by the Taiwan-based company Everspring. EFP devices have a steel or copper curved dish that becomes a molten dart when the blasting cap is detonated. The Pentagon documents say that EFPs are "capable of penetrating armour plate up to 10cm thick or more at a range of 100 metres or more". There were 10,953 roadside bombings last year, compared with 5,607 in 2004. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 after traveling that kind of distance the molten core would hqve cooled considerablly Yeah, I think someone moved a decimel point or screwed up the metric conversion. The round does not get a chance to cool appreciably as it travels at a not-inconsiderable speed. According to Wikipedia the round can move at speeds up to 25 times the speed of sound (speed of sound at sea level 664 mph) for self-forgers, so by the time you hear the explosion you're already dead. Also, from Wiki, Most of the jet formed moves at hypersonic speed, the tip at 7 to 14 km/s, the jet tail at a lower velocity (1 to 3 km/s), and the slug at a still lower velocity (less than 1 km/s). The exact velocities are dependent on the charge's configuration and confinement, explosive type, materials used, and the explosive-initiation mode. At typical velocities, the penetration process generates such enormous pressures that it may be considered hydrodynamic; to a good approximation, the jet and armor may be treated as incompressible fluids, with their material strengths ignored. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaped_charge for even more info. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2006-04-30 19:43 |
| #10 If it's like a poor man's HEAT round it certainly would chill after a few feet. But this is likely something akin to the US steel rain thingy. Solid bolt. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-04-30 15:12 |
| #9 after traveling that kind of distance the molten core would hqve cooled considerablly Yeah, I think someone moved a decimel point or screwed up the metric conversion. |
| Posted by: Steve 2006-04-30 12:44 |
| #8 Oh, I didn't mean to imply that you were soft on Iran or any such twaddle. As far as Iranian support for Ansar al-Islam, the Kurds have been saying since as far back as 2003 (and we've noted here on Rantburg) that after the fall of Saddam the IRGC sheltered the group's surviving leadership. Even the ICG report on Iraq, which adopted the most minimalist position possible towards Iranian influence on Iraq, conceded this much. So the Kurds have been saying this for sometime now, what is new is that the US appears (at least on the basis of this story) to be repeating some of those same allegations. Concerning IEDs, it seems reasonably straight-forward that the US and UK have captured several shipments of this crap coming in from Iran. Expertise aside, stuff is being manufactured there and shipped into Iraq, where it is used by people of ill will. You are quite correct to note that the problem of Iran isn't as bad as say, that of Syria. It's true that the Hezbollah IED techniques and designs have been widely-distributed since their inception, but it's also true that the same techniques and designs started with Hezbollah and if those same IEDs are coming in from Iran I think it's entirely fair to say rhat 2+2 still equals 4 here as far as logic goes. On MEK intel, some it has turned out to be good relating to the nuclear program. Since the CIA inadvertently rolled up all the US assets inside Iran, we don't have any decent HUMINT there besides what our allies and various opposition groups like the MEK choose to throw our way - this is one of the reasons why I am very concerned over possibility of using that intel to plan airstrikes, BTW. |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-04-30 12:41 |
| #7 "...range of 100 metres or more". I'm speking from ignorance here.But this bothers mw,I would think that after traveling that kind of distance the molten core would hqve cooled considerablly.Making it ineffective. |
| Posted by: raptor 2006-04-30 11:35 |
| #6 It's true that there isn't a single high traffic ratline from Iran to Iraq. Think instead of things oozing through the border like a sieve. The UK isn't the only one accusing Iran. CENTCOM also thinks the shaped charges are being promulgated by Iran, given that we captured some of them with Iranian markings a while back in Iraq and trucks with them coming over the border. The question isn't whether the lastest ones were assembled in Iraq, it's whether Iran is actively encouraging their use and promulgating the design and know how, probably also backed up with money and supplies. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-04-30 07:52 |
| #5 Iranian involvement in anti-US terrorism Dan, In the past here at the RB, you and I initially were the first to suspect that Steven Vincent's death was connected in some way to Iranian agents/orders. and while I'm certain that the Iranian State has a large active terrorist apprat working around the world, [eg. samples of their work... April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing Beirut 1983 Beirut barracks bombing Israelite Mutual Association Buenos Aires Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 Khobar Towers Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia etc.] By now you would think the Kurds would have been all over this story unless they are working the problem in the black. Of course Dan, I defer to your expertise on these matters on the principal that you are the professional and I am just a blogger with an interest! shape charges, even clustered with hard shrapnel and photo switched [garage doors] are not rocket science. ...confined in city streets where traffic is channeled they are way bad news and effective. The terrorists also use massive IEDs, brute force to defeat armor. ..at least one M1A2 was blown to pieces with 3 anti-tank mines [stacked]. [pics if you want them.] I have no independent way to judge the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) or any of their Intel. to recap: In open sources there's been massive documentation of The rat line from Syria [money, splodys, material] but nothing on that scale from Iran, directly anyways. Just to be clear though, In no way can we let the current batch of Iranians Nazis have nuclear weapons. |
| Posted by: RD 2006-04-30 07:29 |
| #4 RD, I think I've asked you this before but I'm curious, you generally seem to have a skeptical attitude towards reports of Iranian involvement in anti-US terrorism. Is it just the fact that most of it is sourced to anonymous people, that you feel the nuclear issue is making people overly credulous of these reports, that you don't trust the MEK (definitely not a criticism, IMO), or is there another reason to it. I'm not trying to be critical, but if there is something you see that I'm missing I would like to know so I can factor it into my own analysis. |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-04-30 04:54 |
| #3 the Eastern monroe It's called the Bush doctrine. »:-) |
| Posted by: RD 2006-04-30 03:17 |
| #2 Not saying that Iran isn't a tactical and strategic problem, it is, But shape charges aren't difficult to build, and high explosive, copper, and switches are found in abundance in Iraq. RBees could build them by the bushel basket. |
| Posted by: RD 2006-04-30 03:04 |
| #1 If the EFP is remotely armed, then there must be a way to remotely disarm it. |
| Posted by: zazz 2006-04-30 02:06 |
