Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center have created a guide and a training course designed to help frontline servicemen speed up the analysis of craters caused by improvised explosive devices, the Army website reported May 20.David Vergun writes ERDC has partnered with the Joint IED Defeat Organization, National Ground Intelligence Center and the Army Research Lab to develop the Post-Blast Crater Collection and Analysis Guide, which aims to help explosives ordnance staff to perform forensics work on craters and holes to vehicles caused by IEDs.
Meanwhile, the three-day training program calls for soldiers to take pictures and measure the crater’s geometry and examine soil samples, according to the website.
Dr. Jay Ehrgott, a research scientist at ERDC, said the effort has led to the development of a database of IED threats that serves as an information resource for military commanders.
The database intends to help commanders “adjust mission planning, improve tactics, techniques and procedures and evaluate effects on our protective systems,†Ehrgott said at the Defense Department’s Lab Day on May 14.
