thedrifter
11-29-03, 06:49 AM
Issue Date: December 01, 2003
New force-protection gear is on rush order for Iraq
By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer
The Pentagon has jump-started the development and fielding of tactics and technology to better protect troops on peacekeeping duty in Iraq.
“There was a growing recognition that our troops were under fire and in danger,” a Pentagon official involved with the new initiatives said Nov. 14. “We’re doing everything we can to cut through the bureaucratic maze to keep our troops protected.”
Among the high-tech items being pushed to the troops are small unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles meant to detect improvised explosive devices, aerial observation balloons and more radical systems that can jam remote detonators or even trigger booby traps, a Pentagon official said.
Also, a joint-service working group is gathering still-experimental tactics and training ideas from the services that could help protect convoys and counter the threat of improvised explosive devices, with the intent of “rapidly fielding” them to deployed units.
Nearly 300 American troops have been killed in Iraq since major combat operations were declared at an end May 1 — many of them by improvised explosives and convoy ambushes.
In mid-October, officials with the Pentagon’s acquisition and defense research and engineering offices joined with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Central Command to identify programs already in development that could be quickly fielded with additional money.
So Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz sent a letter Oct. 16 to congressional leaders seeking more than $335 million to purchase new force-protection systems.
The Pentagon official said money from the $87 billion supplemental funding bill for operations in Iraq was used to purchase the items.The Marine Corps submitted its own list of still-experimental gear that it would like to field with $70 million in “rapid reaction/ new solution” technology money, said Jeffrey DeWeet, deputy director for strategy and plans with the Plans, Policy and Operations branch at Marine headquarters in Washington.
The list includes a variety of frequency jammers, acoustic detectors and directed-energy technologies. DeWeet declined to offer specifics, citing security concerns. But he did note that the list includes new body armor that is lighter than the current 15-pound Interceptor vest. Also on tap is add-on armor that can be attached to Marine trucks that have no ballistic protection.
At the same time, the Marine Corps is involved in the interservice effort to find training methods and tactics to more effectively counter convoy ambushes and improvised explosives. Led by an Army colonel, this “Joint Survivability” initiative began this fall. The study is being managed by the Pentagon’s Operational Test and Evaluation Office, which aims to have experimental tactics available within four to six weeks, said Lt. Col. David Wessner, who directs the Marine Corps lessons-learned team and is part of the Joint Survivability study team.
The Joint Survivability group is perhaps the only entity looking at all areas — tactics, techniques, training and technology — to field solutions within months, Wessner said in a Nov. 17 e-mail response to queries. “It has also been helpful in alerting other groups to works that are already underway, to better leverage resources, improve coordination and ensure interoperability of the solutions.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gear on the way
Defense officials will use $335 million from the $87 billion wartime supplemental funding bill to speed the fielding of new force protection equipment for troops in Iraq. How the money will be spent:
•$70 million to increase production of Interceptor body armor.
•$59.3 million to increase production of “up-armored” Humvees.
•$25 million to increase production of lightweight counter-mortar radar.
•$38.3 million to increase production of Aerostats — tethered balloons — with electro-optical sensors.
•$840,000 for Scan Eagle long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles.
•$31 million to complete the purchase of 185 Raven small unmanned aerial vehicles.
•$8.1 million to complete “change detection” devices — classified projects that “determine what changed on the Earth since the last time the sensor was used; either from the air or other electronic methods.”
•$26.5 million to increase production of 107 Warlock Orange electronic countermeasures devices — a classified program to defeat improvised explosive devices.
•$5.5 million to replace 10 Channel Cottonwood electronic countermeasures devices — another classified program similar to Warlock Orange.
•$1 million to test and evaluate 50 radio frequency detection devices that help determine which frequencies are being used to detonate improvised explosive devices.
•$70 million to develop an array of “rapid reaction/new solution” technologies available within three to six months.
Source: Defense Department
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2417868.php
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
New force-protection gear is on rush order for Iraq
By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer
The Pentagon has jump-started the development and fielding of tactics and technology to better protect troops on peacekeeping duty in Iraq.
“There was a growing recognition that our troops were under fire and in danger,” a Pentagon official involved with the new initiatives said Nov. 14. “We’re doing everything we can to cut through the bureaucratic maze to keep our troops protected.”
Among the high-tech items being pushed to the troops are small unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles meant to detect improvised explosive devices, aerial observation balloons and more radical systems that can jam remote detonators or even trigger booby traps, a Pentagon official said.
Also, a joint-service working group is gathering still-experimental tactics and training ideas from the services that could help protect convoys and counter the threat of improvised explosive devices, with the intent of “rapidly fielding” them to deployed units.
Nearly 300 American troops have been killed in Iraq since major combat operations were declared at an end May 1 — many of them by improvised explosives and convoy ambushes.
In mid-October, officials with the Pentagon’s acquisition and defense research and engineering offices joined with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Central Command to identify programs already in development that could be quickly fielded with additional money.
So Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz sent a letter Oct. 16 to congressional leaders seeking more than $335 million to purchase new force-protection systems.
The Pentagon official said money from the $87 billion supplemental funding bill for operations in Iraq was used to purchase the items.The Marine Corps submitted its own list of still-experimental gear that it would like to field with $70 million in “rapid reaction/ new solution” technology money, said Jeffrey DeWeet, deputy director for strategy and plans with the Plans, Policy and Operations branch at Marine headquarters in Washington.
The list includes a variety of frequency jammers, acoustic detectors and directed-energy technologies. DeWeet declined to offer specifics, citing security concerns. But he did note that the list includes new body armor that is lighter than the current 15-pound Interceptor vest. Also on tap is add-on armor that can be attached to Marine trucks that have no ballistic protection.
At the same time, the Marine Corps is involved in the interservice effort to find training methods and tactics to more effectively counter convoy ambushes and improvised explosives. Led by an Army colonel, this “Joint Survivability” initiative began this fall. The study is being managed by the Pentagon’s Operational Test and Evaluation Office, which aims to have experimental tactics available within four to six weeks, said Lt. Col. David Wessner, who directs the Marine Corps lessons-learned team and is part of the Joint Survivability study team.
The Joint Survivability group is perhaps the only entity looking at all areas — tactics, techniques, training and technology — to field solutions within months, Wessner said in a Nov. 17 e-mail response to queries. “It has also been helpful in alerting other groups to works that are already underway, to better leverage resources, improve coordination and ensure interoperability of the solutions.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gear on the way
Defense officials will use $335 million from the $87 billion wartime supplemental funding bill to speed the fielding of new force protection equipment for troops in Iraq. How the money will be spent:
•$70 million to increase production of Interceptor body armor.
•$59.3 million to increase production of “up-armored” Humvees.
•$25 million to increase production of lightweight counter-mortar radar.
•$38.3 million to increase production of Aerostats — tethered balloons — with electro-optical sensors.
•$840,000 for Scan Eagle long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles.
•$31 million to complete the purchase of 185 Raven small unmanned aerial vehicles.
•$8.1 million to complete “change detection” devices — classified projects that “determine what changed on the Earth since the last time the sensor was used; either from the air or other electronic methods.”
•$26.5 million to increase production of 107 Warlock Orange electronic countermeasures devices — a classified program to defeat improvised explosive devices.
•$5.5 million to replace 10 Channel Cottonwood electronic countermeasures devices — another classified program similar to Warlock Orange.
•$1 million to test and evaluate 50 radio frequency detection devices that help determine which frequencies are being used to detonate improvised explosive devices.
•$70 million to develop an array of “rapid reaction/new solution” technologies available within three to six months.
Source: Defense Department
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2417868.php
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: