Afghan bomb numbers blow up with surge
Lethality of weapons on the decline
- By Defense Systems Staff
- Mar 03, 2011
The Afghan enemy still possesses motivation, financing and materials, as evidenced by the sheer volume of makeshift bombs found, and in spite of the surge, writes DangerRoom's Spencer Ackerman on
Wired.com.
Almost same number of bombs were found in January 2011 -- 1,344 -- as were discovered seven months earlier, yet bomb effectiveness, which the military defines by the percentage of people bombs injure or kill, has dropped from 25 percent to 16 percent, according to the report.
The positive trend in bomb effectiveness can be partly attributed to the increased use of sensors, such as tethered blimps, video-equipped drones, chemical-sniffing planes and trusty dogs to detect the deadly explosives, Army officials said.