Iraq Bomb Detection?

Question

I believe that most of the troop casualities are from roadside bombs, and them riding in vehicles not well enough armored, and other gear that not cushion them well enough from the explosions..

I don't understand why technology cannot detect the explosive devices before the vehicles get close enough to be harmed.

The British protect the Royal family train by having a bomb detection train going ahead of the people train ... why can't convoys of US troops have a robot truck go ahead of the real occupant trucks to be the target for the road side explosives.

The robot truck would be an unmanned vehicle driven by radio control by some human in a vehiile further back in the convoy, and the robot rruck would be supplied with bomb detection gear, sniff out explosives, so the convoy can stop before the humans get close.

The equipment would need to be easy to make another truck the robot in front, after first blown up.

Dan's answer gave me an idea for a related question "IED Jamming?" which I posted here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aoc9EEhjsE.0_yHkJnryu.Tsy6IX?qid=20070729105113AA5ykhz

I also added a related question.
Big Brother Spy Eye Iraq Security?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070729111707AAz6wks&r=w

Answer 1

You are right and we are working on the problem.

It is possible to detect explosives with a snifter, but not in the wild and not when it is buried.

Modern IEDs use artillery shells and can disable or destroy a tank. Iran is supplying a lot of the equipment for this. We need to stop that supply and that is hard to do since Iran is for all intents and purposes at war with the US. They haven't declared war, so we can't fight them with conventional means.

The DARPA Challenge with a robot vehicle driving in the desert was just one step in the program you are talking about. Some airports now have chemical sensors that a person walks into and is shot with a puff of air. If they have explosive residue on them then some of the residue is lifted and absorbed by the machine which can then detect it. The machine can't detect things underground though, or several feet away. The technology isn't that good yet.

There is another problem with IEDs; the terrorists. They wait near by with a cell phone detonator to explode the bomb when it will do the most damage. Often they stop the convoy to ambush them; sometimes they have a series of them planted.

The Royal Family Train that you mentioned weighs as much as the cars behind it. The idea is if a bomb is planted on the tracks it will go off before the Royal Cars travel over it. However, if that bomb is an IED with a cell phone detonator then the Royal Family will be easy targets. To stop this the British Police clear out the area and even turn cell phone towers off for a few minutes. They take great extremes to protect the Royals; just like the US does to protect the President.

But, the Royals and the President aren't driving down a dirt road looking for terrorists and delivering supplies. They are a single unit that can be closely protected. Extending that protection to an entire Army just can't be done.

Answer 2

The train that pecedes the "Royal Train" has a lot more than bomb sniffing technology. Let's say that the bomb is planted and intended to go off when the train arrives, this train will go instead, they know this and do it willingly.
The other thing that is done, is that the Queen's guard go out and post themseves in various locations that one would expect a bomb to be. This, based on intelligence and areas that would support the IED's are explored prior to departure and all during the trip, Soldiers stay and observe the area.

The point is , that this is done for most high ranking officials as well as Presidents and Royalty.
You can't expect that it be done in Iraq because we simply don't have the manpower.
The vehicles that we are retro fitting with armor are much better than a regular Hum Vee. Newer models have a better chance of surviving because they have a "V" shaped bottom, thus alowing the explosion to be directed uner and out the sides of the vehicles.
That being said, the other problem that is the hardest to counter, is the fact that these bombs are set off by insurgents, is an issue that isn't easy to counteract. The insurgent could be a man, woman or child.
These people hide within groups of other individuals. They are cowards and fight like coward hiding within groups of women and children, knowing that we are a humane Army.

The robot truck is an idea that has some merit but, as we have seen in the past, the insurgents will know when we have a robot truck.
They know this because, as in Vietnam, we don't know who the enemy is. The Iraqi Police are suspected of being plants, we have no idea who they are, not like in this Country where we can do a background check. There, they have no backgroung to speak of.
That's why this is such a difficult war to wage.
As before, friend or foe? Difficult to judge. Hence, the problems that lead up to this question.
I hope I have shed some light. I know that there are others who have been there that understand better than I.
I was in a different war but with similar situations.
I recall it vividly to this day.
Thanks for the great question.

Answer 3

the sea and air are very distinctive in comparison on your commonplace street. that is undemanding for a scanning gadget to pickup metallic in an ocean or a flying piece of metallic. the project is that even however its undemanding on land, theres no way of telling whats a bomb and whats a frying pan or a watch fixed. interior the sea, you do not ought to truly difficulty approximately no rely if or not that soccer container sized piece of metallic interior the sea is a deliver or not.

Answer 4

Soldiers are considered disposable. It would be too expensive to protect them like this.