Airmen Help Minimize Suicide Bombing Threat
10/28/2008 - HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) -- Members
of an Electronic Systems Center office are working to minimize the
threat of suicide bombings at the entry points of controlled-access
zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The team has been working since late September to rapidly evaluate
technologies designed to detect what are known as person-borne
improvised explosive devices, or PBIEDs. The team, which serves as the
Air Force Counter-IED Office, brought four contractors here during the
last week of September and five more during the week of Oct. 20 to 24.
Each contractor representative was given a four-hour block to run the
company's technologies through a precise testing protocol that required
them to set up some distance away from a "target" zone. Inside the
zone, a series of test subjects wearing loose-fitting robes over their
clothes, meant to replicate those routinely worn in Afghanistan,
entered one by one. Each walked forward and then retreated past a
string of orange cones, allowing the detectors to examine them front
and back.
Some of the walkers were carrying concealed, simulated IEDs, which had
been carefully designed to mimic the types most commonly found in
theater. Others were clean. It was up to the technology operator to
determine which was which, and to pinpoint the location of a potential
device when one was found.
"The most critical thing is that they're able to do it at stand-off
range," said Ed Mason, chief of the Counter-IED Office at ESC. "If we
have to be right up with the person in order to detect the device,
that's obviously a huge problem."
Therefore, during the tests, checkpoint detectors operated at such a
range, using a variety of technologies including infrared and X-ray
backscatter to examine those who entered the zone.
In actual operation, if detectors target someone they suspect of
carrying a PBIED, they would isolate the person and have him or
her lift up or remove the outer clothing for a visual or camera-aided
inspection, still at a safe distance, said Jim McMath, an engineer with
the IEDD Program Office.
Department of Defense officials, through the Joint IED Defeat Office,
known as JIEDDO, are looking to bring these capabilities into theater
as quickly as possible.
"They came to us in late August and asked if we could start testing
some of these technologies within five weeks, and by late September we
had the first tests up and running," Mr. Mason said. "They knew we had
the program management, acquisition and testing skill and experience to
make it happen."
After each round of testing -- tests are expected to take place
quarterly from here on -- the ESC team prepares a report. The report
provides a statistical analysis of the Probability of Detection rate
and the False Alarm Rate of each technology. Beyond that, the report
factors in other variables, such as size, weight and ease of set up.
"We also determine how hard or simple it is to operate," Mr. Mason
said. "If it takes a PhD to operate the equipment, we take that into
consideration in the report. Likewise, if any Joe Schmoe can run it, we
note that."
Once JIEDDO officials receive and analyze the Air Force report, they
determine which technologies to continue pursuing and will likely
provide funds for further technical development. They also also ask the
ESC team to conduct more rigorous capabilities and limitation testing,
which would be done in a sophisticated test environment, such as White
Sands Missile Range, N.M., and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
Ultimately, the ESC team, at the direction of JIEDDO officials, will
put the companies with the most promising technologies on contract for
an operational assessment in theater, where users can try it out in
real-world action. If it works well, the final step is to get it into
production and out to operators en masse.
Some people have asked why the Air Force is involved in efforts to defeat IEDs, which are after all a ground threat.
"DOD is interested in pursuing good ideas, no matter where they come
from, and they'll turn to whichever service has the ability to test
them out and get them fielded," Mr. Mason said.
In many cases, counter-IED efforts are achieved jointly. A current
example involves the ongoing acquisition of 600 advanced metal
detectors, which will be used to reduce threats during the January
elections in Iraq.
The ESC team conducted the market research to determine what was
needed, such as the ability to zone in on the location of an object on
a body, and stabilizers that enable outdoor use regardless of wind or
other weather conditions. They also conducted the market research into
which vendors could supply what's needed quickly.
Specialists at the Army's Natick (Mass.) Soldiers Center, located about
10 miles from Hanscom, handled the actual procurement of the detectors
and all associated equipment.
"This was a great example of the services working together to find the best and fastest solution," Mr. Mason said.
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