Inside the Ring

Pre-emption

It is not a perfect solution, but the Army is trying a combination of boots on the ground and high-tech surveillance to stop the placement of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq.

The IEDs come in many forms, but one thing is consistent: Saddam Hussein loyalists place them along the path of unsuspecting American convoys and then detonate them by remote control when the vehicles pass by.

The 4th Infantry and 1st Armored divisions, which occupy the most dangerous territory in Iraq, are flying drones with night-piercing infrared sensors to spot the terrorists in the act. The intelligence is passed along to sniper scout teams, who go to the spot and kill the saboteurs. One soldier told us the 4th ID scouts had killed more than 10 guerrillas in one week as they tried to hide IEDs.

The 4th ID soldiers, whose sector includes the notorious Tikrit, also are doing something that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld might find transformational. They have taken Austrian hunting rifles seized from Saddam’s army and used them as their long-range sniper rifles. They go out at night, finding their prey with advanced night-vision goggles. The terrorists look like deer caught in the headlights.

Triggering IEDs

One thing the U.S. military can do to counter Iraq’s homemade terrorist bombs is to use a trick known to ham radio operators.

U.S. helicopters and military vehicles could fly and drive around high-threat areas with Variable Frequency Oscillator (VFO) transmitters.

“What we did in high school was drive around the neighborhood with a VFO transmitter and many of the garage doors would flap open and closed as we moved along,” said Bill Sweet, a ham operator in Michigan.

VFOs can be manually tuned up and down frequency bands and targeted at Iraq’s remote-control bombs. “This procedure could set off bombs prematurely and even some as they were being built,” Mr. Sweet tells us. “Digital VFO remote-control thwarting could be tried too, with a computer running random number combinations.”

Mystery round

Army officials are trying to figure out what high-speed projectile crippled an M1A1 tank in August.

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