DoD seeks faster buys of IED countermeasures

[unhappycamper]

DoD seeks faster buys of IED countermeasures
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 29, 2007 17:08:16 EDT

A two-day meeting to talk with industry and academics about better ways to locate and defeat the roadside bombs plaguing U.S. troops illustrates the difficulty of keeping up with the insurgents: While decentralized terror cells make their speedy and deadly plans on the back of napkins, U.S. officials are trying to defeat them with high technology that is funded and fielded far more slowly.

Officials of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization say the process is becoming more streamlined, but obstacles remain — and the enemy is nimble.

“The threats are many, many groups,” said Robin Keesee, JIEDDO’s deputy director, who met with reporters during an outreach conference being held Oct. 28-30 in College Park, Md. “They observe what was successful and what wasn’t. They build or modify things in informal ways. While we have taken great strides to reduce our bureaucracy, we still need to field to a force, not to an individual person in an individual neighborhood.

“So they’re watching what works and what doesn’t work in a neighborhood, and they’re adapting on that basis,” Keesee said. “Our soldiers and Marines and others are adapting their tactics and techniques at that level. The challenge for us is, how do we adapt the technology as well to support the Marines and soldiers?”

Keesee said JIEDDO can make decisions on whether to fund investment three weeks after an initial proposal is made — a period during which the idea is reviewed by panels of scientists and engineers, by warfighters and, finally, by administrators.

~snip~

IEDs are the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 3,270 troops have been killed in action in the two wars and through mid-August, IEDs were responsible for nearly 2,100 of those deaths, according to the Pentagon.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/military_iedtech_071029w/



uhc comment: Typical five-sided Puzzle Palace spin. 3,829 of ours have died in Iraq and another 455 of ours have died in Afghanistan. They must use a dartboard to get their numbers.

[krispos42]

1. Nice to see them being so proactive

Nipping this problem in the bud and all that. They should have it licked any decade now.

:sarcasm: