September 5, 2015: Strategy Page

The Future of IEDs:  Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) caused over 65 percent of coalition casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan and are likely to remain the bad guy weapon of choice in the near future.  Using such devices is a great way to fight the high-tech U.S. when you are a technological and material underdog. Despite the success insurgents have had using IEDs, there is intense professional discussion in the U.S. military over how much energy and resources, including valuable training time, to exert in dealing with them.  

Since September 11, 2001 two-thirds of the Americans killed in combat were the victims of roadside bombs and (much less often) mines. This was a big shift from the American experience in Vietnam, where 14 percent of American deaths were from bombs and mines. While that meant twice as many Americans killed by bombs and mines during Vietnam (55,000 dead) compared to Iraq and Afghanistan (6,700 dead), the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) became the most successful weapon the enemy had against American troops. In response the U.S. formed JIEDDO (Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization), a $25 billion dollar effort to deal with roadside bombs. Because of the fear that IEDs will continue to be a major threat (because all the other battlefield dangers have been made so much less dangerous) the U.S. is keeping JIEDDO going, although cutting staff and funding by about two-thirds.

The greatly reduced level of US ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has occasioned a serious debate within the U.S. Army and Marine Corps on the future status of Counter-IED skills, equipment and training.  army and marine leaders worry about the loss of legacy skills, examples of which are combined arms operations at the battalion and brigade level and a generation of marines who are unfamiliar with operating from on board ship.  One of the touch points of the associated professional debate was the future of JIEDDO.  The debate is now over and in July 2015 JIEDDO become the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization now known as JIDA.  This re-designation creates a permanent organization and the change in scope is obvious.  American military thinkers acknowledge IEDs were a surprising tactic, with strategic implications, for which the military had no immediate solution.  No one wants to repeat the spectacle of U.S. troops putting improvised armor on their hummers and trucks happened in 2004.   It took until mid-2005 to up armor all hunners.   While JIDA is still focused on IEDs the additional scope against all improvised threats is designed to anticipate and avoid the kind of battlefield surprise encountered in insurgent use of IEDs.  Some criticized the old JIEDDO as wasting too much money.  However it comes down to the classic efficiency versus effectiveness argument.  When you are running a business you need to maximize efficiency, when you are trying to keep soldiers and marines alive you care more about effectiveness.  The critics’ comments are misplaced.     IED “found and cleared” rates for example went up from 49 percent at the beginning of the 2010 Afghanistan “surge” to 65 percent two years later.  While JIEDDO’s own analysis suggested multiple causes for the improvement the JIEDDO pushed effort to employ hand held detection devices, and the training for them, as well as other initiatives were key factors.  During the same Afghan surge with 30,000 additional U.S. forces going into often untouched Taliban territory IED attacks of course increased, by 25 percent, yet effective attacks decreased 3.1 percent.  The bottom line is U.S. enemies have found a useful tool in the IED and know better than to try and fight the U.S. symmetrically with a peer ground force.  Hence the need for an organization that is focused on anticipating asymmetric threats like the IED.  Look to see JIDA moving into other areas than Counter-IED in the future. --- Colonel Rod Coffey, USA (Ret)

10/09/2014 Defence IQ Press

The Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) has partnered with the Army Research Lab and the Maneuver Battle Lab at the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, to host a "Culvert Denial Challenge," where 20 defence contractors are competing to provide the latest technologies to defeat IEDs.

There are two challenges with ten contractors focusing on one each – there’s a surveillance challenge and an inspection challenge.

The objective of the competition is to “find some technology that will either improve upon current systems or can be added or provide new capability to culvert IED problems," said Matthew Way, a JIEDDO programme integrator.

For the surveillance challenge, vendors make use of unmanned systems, micro-radar technologies, seismic sensors, and hyperspectral imaging. They are monitoring a culvert for an eight-hour period that encompasses day, evening and night hours.

"Once we've secured a culvert, we wanted technology that can maintain security over that area," Way said. "The competition really focuses on their ability to distinguish, per the solicitation, between nefarious activity and something that is benign -- just regular patterns of life."

Vendors in the inspection challenge are demonstrating potential solutions using quadcopters, ground robots, canines, and electromagnetic sensors. They are tasked with various scenarios such as difficult terrain, night inspection, and a long culvert that challenges communication links.

"We are really measuring how quickly they can get into a culvert area and tell me if it's clear or not clear," he said. "The second component that we are scoring them on is, once they've done that, how accurately can they identify particular items that may be threats in the region."

Companies competing include EFW (Elbit), L-3 Communications, Niitek, Primal Innovation, QinetiQ, iRobot, K2 Solutions, Lockheed Martin, and Pearson Engineering.

Bringing together senior international military, police forces and defence industry, from Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa, EOD & CIED 2014 will offer high level discussion on the key challenges facing the CIED/EOD community and engage in debate on the strategies and new technologies available for future force development. Find out more by following the link below.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT THIS TOPIC?
		EOD & C-IED 2014 View the conference agenda here.

07/08/2013  Andrew Elwell - defenceiq.com

One of the big questions relating to the reorganisation of the Armed Forces following the withdrawal from Afghanistan relates to the future of Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO). Will it still be an operational necessity or is the argument for its continued economic outlay too fragile?

The unit was formed in 2006 after a spate of deadly incidents involving the roadside bombs forced the US government to act. JIEDDO has been central to informing opinion on IEDs for a decade but senior US defence officials are now discussing its future. There are three options being considered: maintain JIEDDO’s capabilities but split its duties between the military forces; scale down its operations and house it within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD); or shut it down.

Colonel Gareth Bex, Head of Army EOD & Search at the UK MoD, is a man who would have an opinion on JIEDDO’s future effectiveness. He spoke at the Counter-IED conference in London last month and insisted that “the genie is out of the bottle [for insurgents and their effective use of IEDs], and there’s no way it’s going back in.”

Col Bex went on to say that the UK failed to continue the investment it made in this area after Northern Ireland and lost the mainstay of its C-IED capabilities as a result. When protection against IEDs and mine blasts wasn't top of the agenda anymore it was easy for that investment to be directed into other avenues. Bex wonders if the same may happen again post-Afghanistan, especially considering the current economic climate. But it mustn't. The lessons learned from Afghanistan must not be allowed to be forgotten like they were after Northern Ireland - the only way to do that is maintain investment in the area and continue to take the threat seriously.

“IEDs are certainly an enduring global threat,” said Col Bex.

With that in mind, how can the US justify the elimination of JIEDDO? It would be imprudent, and short-sighted.

While breaking up the organisation and spreading it out through the military services – a process known as disaggregation – is a viable option, the best, and perhaps most likely option for the JIEDDO may be to roll it into the OSD.

JIEDDO has spent in the region of $20 billion since 2006, including the largest and most ambitious UOR programme ever for the design and acquisition of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) family of vehicles.

May 22, 2012 ASDNews Source : CACI International Inc.

The Wexford Group International, a wholly owned company of CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI), announced today that it has been selected by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM) as one of five prime contractors to support the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization's (JIEDDO) Operations Support (OPS) Services contract. With a ceiling value of $900 million, this five-year (two base years plus three one-year options) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract positions CACI to accelerate its growth in integrated security solutions. This contract was awarded in the second quarter of CACI's 2012 fiscal year which ended December 31, 2011.

JIEDDO leads the Department of Defense's global efforts to counter improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as weapons of strategic influence. IEDs have become the weapon of choice for an overlapping consortium of illicit networks spanning the entire threat continuum, from criminal gangs to terrorists with global reach. The OPS contract provides operational support services to address the counter-IED requirements of combat commanders and troops, delivering rapid, effective solutions designed to disrupt the enemy's effectiveness.

CACI's JIEDDO awards demonstrate its position as a premier, global counter-IED company. The Wexford Group, acquired by CACI in 2007, has worked with JIEDDO and its predecessor organizations since 2003. In addition to the OPS award, CACI supports JIEDDO through multiple task orders on the $494 million Comprehensive Support Services contract, awarded in August 2009.

Dan Allen, CACI President of U.S. Operations, said, "We have a long and successful history of directly supporting our nation's troops through the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. With the Operations Support Services contract, CACI will continue to leverage our cross-discipline expertise in integrated security solutions to aid JIEDDO in its vital strategy to defeat IEDs."

Paul Cofoni, CACI President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Countering IEDs is a key component of the Department of Defense's counter-terrorism and irregular warfare mission. Through JIEDDO's OPS contract, CACI demonstrates our continued commitment to providing leading-edge solutions that directly align with our nation's highest priorities for military support."

February 14, 2012 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: U.S Department of Defense; issued February 14, 2012)

2012-2016 JIEDDO Counter-IED Strategic Plan Released

The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) released its 2012-2016 counter-improvised explosive device (IED) strategic plan intended to provide the framework to coordinate the Defense Department’s counter-IED efforts.

The JIEDDO is tasked to lead DoD’s actions to rapidly provide counter-IED capabilities in support of the combatant commanders and to enable the defeat of the IED as a weapon of strategic influence.

The strategy, looking at the next five years, attempts to capture the lessons learned during the previous ten years since operations began in Afghanistan and Iraq. The plan outlines five principal goals: rapidly identify, validate and prioritize immediate and future counter-IED requirements; provide operations and intelligence fusion; rapidly seek, develop and acquire counter-IED solutions; lead DoD counter-IED training; and build a joint, interagency, intergovernmental and international community of action.

At its core, the plan highlights five enduring capabilities needed to ensure DoD stays ahead of the ever-evolving IED threat. Those enduring capabilities include rapid acquisition and fielding, operations-intelligence-formation fusion, training, weapons technical intelligence and a whole-of-government approach to the IED threat.

Additionally, the strategy also identifies future research and development capability gaps for 2012: pre-detonation, counter threat network, detection, counter-device, homemade explosives, information integration and visualization, and weapons technical intelligence. These identified areas are designed to accelerate the most promising counter-IED solutions to combat the IED challenge.


Click here for the full document (24 pages in PDF format) on the JIEDDO website.