After $19 Billion Spent Over Six Years, Pentagon Realizes the Best Bomb Detector Is a Dog

The Pentagon’s best (and best-funded) engineers have toiled for years, only to realize the supremacy of the canine schnoz
After six years and nearly $19 billion in spending, the Pentagon task force assigned to create better ways to detect bombs has revealed their findings: The best bomb detector is…a dog.

The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO (the Pentagon should really take a page from DARPA and make catchier acronyms) has been working on this problem for years, but it’s only getting more serious. There have been more roadside bombs in Afghanistan in the first eight months of this year than in the same period in 2009, so the work JIEDDO is doing is under extra scrutiny.

That made it even more embarrassing when the director of the organization told a conference yesterday that “Dogs are the best detectors.” As it turns out, the most sophisticated detectors JIEDDO could come up with tend to locate only 50% of IEDs in Afghanistan and Iraq. When soldiers are accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs, that number goes up to 80%. That director, Lieutenant General Michael Oates, told the conference that his organization now focuses on disrupting the use of IEDs, rather than flat-out detecting them…because they haven’t make all that much progress on the detection front.

Instead of detection, JIEDDO now spends money on drones to find those planting IEDs, radio jammers to screw with the frequencies used to detonate the bombs, and lots of aerial sensors to scan bomb-heavy areas. That’s all useful, but Congress has recently shown a lack of confidence in the group’s accomplishments, its focus, and in the way its funds are being spent. In response, the House Armed Services Committee cut the group’s budget by nearly half a billion dollars-which, as it turns out, can train a whole lot of bomb-sniffing dogs, or at least buy some sweet dog armor.

[Wired]

Comments

One Response to “After $19 Billion Spent Over Six Years, Pentagon Realizes the Best Bomb Detector Is a Dog”
  1. LTG Oates says:

    This posting is mostly accurate but incomplete and I would like to provide your readers the rest of the story so they are informed participants in the discussion of this critical topic.

    The most effective way to detect an explosive device in Afghanistan is to have one of our soldiers working alongside an Afghan national on foot with a bomb-detection dog; but it is not our preferred solution, nor does the dog represent the totality of effort in the counter-IED process. The “drones, metal detectors, chemical sniffers, and super spycams” you refer to are major contributing elements in our efforts to keep our soldiers and Marines safe and targeting the networks that use IEDs. They are not ineffective and expensive capabilities as intimated in the posting. These assets have and continue to save the lives of our troops; a price we are happy to pay.

    The significant increase in IED incidents in Afghanistan you pointed out is a direct result of the surge of coalition forces pushing into areas formerly controlled by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. As we push more people into the area, the Taliban respond by planting more IEDs, thus the rise in attacks. You can’t look at the numbers without context. In the last 2 months our troops have effectively displaced many of the Taliban and have regained the initiative. The resulting downturn in IED incidents I believe is a trend we will now sustain.

    Most importantly, JIEDDO is not only about technology. Defeating the device is only one of three lines of operation. Attacking the overall IED network plays a key part in keeping our people safe, as does the training we provide our troops prior to deployment.

    We know that success in the counter-IED fight is not achievable solely by killing IED emplacers. Our units are being successful now by focusing on the entire supply and facilitation chain to reduce IED effectiveness. As proven in Iraq, we must establish a relationship with the local population and protect them from the enemy. As you pointed out, we must have a “deeper understanding of the local sociopolitical landscape” if we want to be successful in stemming the flow of IEDs and IED materials into the country.

    Last, but certainly not least, training is the most underappreciated aspect of JIEDDO’s counter – IED efforts. During the last four years, JIEDDO has contributed $2 billion to provide the most realistic C-IED training to forces preparing to deploy to the Afghanistan area.

    I can’t tell you how many lives the $15 million Wolfhound sensor will save this week in Afghanistan, but ask any parent whose son or daughter is serving in that region if their child’s life is worth the investment we have made fielding C-IED initiatives. If a Wolfhound sensor saves one life, the money was well spent.

    We look forward to continuing the dialogue – we acknowledge the responsibility to be good stewards of the resources Congress provides us. We will continue to spend the assets we have to protect our troops and to defeat the enemy emplacing IEDs against them.

    LTG Mike Oates
    Director, JIEDDO

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