Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) Flashcards
What are the 3 types of Explosives
- IED
- Booby Trap
- Mine
What is a IED
Device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals and designed to destroy, incapacitate, harass, or distract
What is a Booby Trap
Explosive, Non-explosive device, or material, deliberately placed to cause casualties when an apparently harmless object is disturbed or a normally safe act is performed
What is a Mine
Explosive or material, normally encased, designed to destroy or damage ground vehicles, boats, or aircraft, or designed to wound, kill, or otherwise incapacitate personnel. It may be detonated by the action of its victim, by the passage of time, or by controlled means
What are the 3 components of IED
- Main Charge
- Initiating System (Fuse)
- Casing
What is composed on the main charge
- Military Munitions
- Easy to use and provide frag effect and allow for relatively easy “daisy chaining
- Military and Commercial Explosives
- Common hardware (bolts, nuts, nails)
- Propane Tanks, Fuel cans Battery Acid
What is the Initiating System
- Fuse function for device
- Cell Phone/ Remote Controls
- Battery as source of detonators
- Can be wired to local power supply
What is the Casing
- Range from cigarette pack to large truck
- Used to hide IED and provide frag
What method EN may lure friendly into IED kill zone
- Broken down Motorist
- Person in need to medical attention
- Unaccompanied young children
What are the 3 initiation methods
- Time
- Command (Radio, Wire)
- Victim Operated
Wireless firing systems use radio transmissions from wireless items such as
- Radio
- Pager
- Doorbell system
- Light-switch devices
- Garage door openers
- Car alarm receivers/unlocking devices
- Toy Car Remote
- Cell Phone
What is Time IED
-Function after a preset delay, allowing the EN to make his escape or to target military forces which have created a pattern
What is Command-initiated IED
- Common Method of employment and allow the EN to choose the moment of initiation
- Used against targets that are in transit or where a routine pattern has been established
- Command wires or Radio-controlled devices
What is Victim-actuated IED
- Attack an individual or group of individuals
- Trip wires been used and targeted for foot mobile patrols or turret gunners in convoys
Common area of IED emplacements
- Previous IED sites
- Frequently travel, predictable routes, roads leading to FOBs/ along common patrol route
- Boundary turnaround points (pattern)
- Roadway shoulders (usually within 10 feet)
- Medians, by the roadside (potholes and covered with dirt or reheated asphalt)
- Trees, light posts, signs, overpasses, and bridge spans that are elevated
- Unattended vehicles
- Guardrails
- Potential incident control points (ICPs)
- Abandoned structures
- Cinder blocks
- Animal and deceased human bodies
- Fake bodies or scarecrows in uniform
- Buildings
- Employed at edge of town
Where are booby trapped IED commonly located
In Weapons and munitions caches
What are indicators of marking of IED
Threat force attempt to mark IED that the marker itself looks out of place
- Piles of Rocks
- Arranged Sticks
- Paint Markings
- Cloth or Plastic Strips tied to branch
What are primary indicator of IED
- Change in environment
- EN leave behind visual indicators of IED
- Subtle indicators increase likelihood of IED
- Unusual behavior patterns or changes in community patterns
Where should friendly forces should be especially vigilant around
- Obstacles in roadway to channel convoys
- Exposed antennas, detonating cord, wires, or ordnance
- Wires laid out in plain site
Ways that IED have been employed are
- The Basic IED attack
- The “Broken Down” Vehicle attack
- Tag Team attack
- Ramming Convoys
- Motorcycles
What is the “The Basic IED attack”
EN will place IEDs along routes on either side of road awaiting foot patrols or convoys to approach in order to cause the most damage to personnel or vehicles
What is the “Broken Down” Vehicle Attack
- placed on the side of the road to cause convoys to change their intended route
- Stage in road, either side, blocking one or all trafficable lanes causing convoy to be canalized between the broken down vehicle and an emplaced IED
What is the “Tag Team Attack”
Numerous threat individuals work to emplace -IED along a route, usually in an urban area
-After the IED and initiation method has been emplaced, one of them will stand by out of site of the convoy and wait to give the signal to another who detonates the IED when the convoy enters the kill zone
What is the “Ramming Convoys”
- EN has been known to ram their vehicle (possibly an SVBIED) into the rear or the side of a convoy as it passes in order to get the convoy to slow or come to a complete stop
- As convoy stops, IED already placed on side of the road or SVBIED is detonated causing damage to personnel and equipment
- EN also been known to get in front of convoy slowing their speed in order to conduct a coordinated attack with another VBIED
What is the “Motorcycles”
-Used by EN in areas of decreased mobility in order to harass convoys and possibly throw IEDs or grenades into rear of vehicles, motorist will escape using pre-designated routes
Indicators of a potential suicide attack are
- Individual who deliberate ignores orders to stop, attempts to leave a security checkpoint
- Individual wearing too much clothing for the prevailing weather conditions
- Individual with suspicious bulges in his/her clothing, carrying packages/bags
- Individual handling wires, switches, an actuator, or a “dead man’s” switch
What are the tenets of IED defeat
IED defeat framework is enables commanders and staffs to plan and take proactive measures to seek out and defeat IED events before they occur
IED defeat framework consist of
- Predict
- Detect
- Prevent
- Avoid activities
- Neutralize
- Protect
What are the 2 major sub-elements of IED defeat framework
-Proactive Elements
(Predict, Detect, Prevent, Avoid, Neutralize, Protect)
-Reactive Element
(Detect, Avoid, Neutralize, Protect)
What is the minimum safe distance from any IED
300 meters, but this range increases as the size of the IED increases
What is the most effective way to enhance your security in relation to IED threat
Deny insurgents opportunity to emplace IED
How to prepare for movement
- Number and type of vehicles
- Planned speed of movement
- Weapons
- Route selection
- Communication plan
- Pre-movement rehearsals
- Pre-Combat Inspections
- After action report
What are the driven IA Drill (REACTOR)
- Report
- Evacuate
- Area
- Clear kill zone
- Treat casualties
- Establish CCP and LZ away rom kill zone
- Report/Recover
What are key points to IED hunting
- In depth knowledge of the area
- Concentrate efforts on high threat areas
- Clear the route often
- Combination of mounted/dismounted teams
- Move slow enough to observe
- Observe from multiple angles
- Investigate all clue tends to point to an IED
- Take size of object into consideration
- Look for other IED indicators
- Use optics to maximize standoff
- Elicit information from Iraqi citizens
