Improvised Explosive Devices and Terrorism

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., The Boeing Company [ NYSE: BA ] and the U.S. Army successfully completed a test in September in which a laser system mounted on an Avenger combat vehicle destroyed 50 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) similar to those used by adversaries in war zones. During the laser firings Sept. 22-24 at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Laser Avenger neutralized multiple types of IEDs, including large-caliber artillery munitions and smaller bomblets and mortar rounds. The system operated at safe distances from the targets and under a variety of conditions, including different angles and ranges. Soldiers traveling with Laser Avenger would not have to get out ... Read Full Story

The Hurt Locker is an upcoming award winning war movie directed by Kathryn Bigelow . The story is based on recently declassified information about an elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team in present day Iraq. It also incorporates observations from journalist/screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with troops. The film was filmed in Jordan, so you feel like it was done in the heat of Irak. The Hurt Locker is starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes. Summit Entertainment should release the Hurt Locker movie in Spring of 2009. Here below the first movie trailer of the Hurt ... Read Full Story

We have the latest U.S. and British casualty reports from Iraq and a long list of violence that continues to sweep across Iraq. War News for Monday, March 31, 2008 Casualty Reports : Commando Ben McBean lost an arm and leg when he was blown up by a Taliban landmine in Afghanistan a month ago. The 21-year-old, recovering at a military hospital in Birmingham . Speaking of the incident from Selly Oak military hospital in Birmingham, Ben said: ? I was on patrol in a group of eight Marines checking the Taliban?s position. We were sprinting from one checkpoint to another. "As I was ... Read Full Story

Researchers from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in Portugal, say they've made a transistor in which paper acts as a functional component.  Elvira Fortunato, who led the research, says that paper-based transistors will be orders of magnitude cheaper and could be used for low-cost, flexible, and disposable microelectronics, such as biosensors, intelligent packaging, and lightbulbs. Is this the breakthrough that will propel the Smart  Economy forward or a new security risk that airlines and troops fearing new improvised explosive devices (IED's) need to worry about ? IEDs have killed untold thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis, as well as more than 2000 coalition troops.  The U.S. ... Read Full Story

Latest Coalition Fatalities http://icasualties.org/oif/ (click on shaded part for additional informaton) 04/21/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty Spc. Benjamin K. Brosh, 22, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died April 18 at Forward Operating Base Anaconda in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered in Paliwoda, Iraq, when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device... 04/21/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty Spc. Lance O. Eakes, 25, of Apex, N.C., died April 18 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1132nd Military Police Company, North Carolina Army National Guard... 04/21/08 MNF: MND-N Soldiers attacked by IED - 2 killed, ... Read Full Story