The Military Searches For Technology To Disable IEDs

12:41

June 20, 2011

US Army Spc. Francisco Liquet from First Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division looks for an IED during a patrol in Panjwai district, Afghanistan's Kandahar province in 2010. (AP)

Here & Now Guest:

Noah Shachtman, contributing editor at Wired Magazine and Danger Room blog writer

Since American troops first touched down in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11, enemy forces have found a powerful weapon in the IED, or improvised explosive device.

Since 2005, about 15,000 IEDs have been used on American troops, according to the military's Joint IED Defeat organization.

The U.S. military has spent $17 billion on technology to jam the devices and is now working on a next generation jammer that could not only disable bombs, but locate them, eavesdrop on the enemy and disrupt drones.

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This program aired on June 20, 2011.