BAGHDAD Ñ The U.S. Army has devised counter-measures against
roadside bombs placed by Sunni insurgents which have taken a heavy toll on Humvees and other U.S. equipment.
The army has helped develop a new series of platforms to detect and track
improvised explosive devices. The new, heavily armored vehicles were also meant to protect
U.S. troops.
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A U.S. soldier looks at a Humvee which was destroyed by a bomb in Baghdad on June 29. A roadside bomb blast killed three U.S. Marines Tuesday in the first reported fatal attack on U.S. forces in Iraq since the formal handover of sovereignty to an interim government.
REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
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Officials said the army has lost numerous Humvees and other vehicles to
IEDs. They said Humvees have been lost on a daily basis during the Shi'ite
revolt in mid-April.
"We continue to lose small numbers of Humvees on a daily basis,
partially damaged by IEDs and such, and I think we had today some fuel
trailers that were blown up," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director for
coalition operations, said.
The platforms were deemed the Husky, Meerkat, Buffalo and RG-31. All of
the armored cars Ñ designed in South Africa and the United States Ñ were
deployed by the 82nd Airborne Division's Task Force Pathfinder.
The vehicles, primarily designed to detect buried mines, have been
searching the roadways for IEDs and other threats to soldiers on convoys and
patrols. So far, the equipment has proven effective for a number of reasons,
chiefly the detection abilities of the Husky and Meerkat vehicles.
"These vehicles are designed to take a blast," Pfc. Lester Rhodes, a
combat engineer and operator of the RG-31 armored car, said. "The safety
given by these vehicles allows us to focus more energy on finding the
rounds."
Each vehicles is heavily armored and designed to resist blasts from both
mines and IEDs. So far, the vehicles
have found six IEDs.
