ashok321
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2010
- Messages
- 17,942
- Reaction score
- 4
- Country
- Location
The Pentagons bomb squad has a new idea to thwart Afghan insurgents weapon of choice: by adding chemicals thatd render its main ingredient non-explosive or even make it lethal to the bomb builders themselves.
The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO, wants to tamper with the supplies of fertilizer, the primary component in the bombs that have killed 719 American soldiers in Afghanistan since 2001. One small problem: Most of the 480,000 pounds of fertilizer used in Afghanistans bombs is smuggled out of Pakistan, and U.S. officials have hardly convinced that country to clamp down.
Were not going to solve the IED problem inside Afghanistan, a senior U.S. military official told ABC News last week. If we dont go after the supply, were playing defense.
Thats exactly what JIEDDOs looking to do. The agencys new*call for research, first spotted by InsideDefense.com, asks for*additives and methods to disrupt or discourage [bomb] manufacturing from fertilizer.
A fertilizer bomb is little more than ammonium nitrate, fuel and a simple detonator, and it can be assembled in one of two ways: For the most potent explosives, bomb makers can boil the fertilizer to separate its constituent parts and score a supply of ammonium nitrate the chemical theyre actually after. Or, they can crush up the fertilizers granules and use em as a quick-and-dirty bomb-building base.
JIEDDO is hoping to mess with that process. Theyre interested in compounds thatd make the fertilizer turn to foam or gel when mixed with water rendering the boiling process futile (and rather messy). Or, JIEDDO wants some kind of grinding inhibitor that would keep the fertilizer granules in one piece, making them entirely useless to terrorists trying to dissolve or grind them.
But one of the most promising possibilities, floated during JIEDDO chief Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barberos recent trip to Pakistan: adding coated urea fertilizer granules to the bags of ammonium nitrate. The combination of urea and ammonium nitrate has a strong affinity for water and would be very difficult for insurgents to dry into an explosive powder, the Washington Post reported. The urea additives would not stop the insurgents from processing the fertilizer into bombs, but it would complicate their task and potentially make the blast less potent.
The agencys also got more malevolent ideas. Theyre open to additives that would actually make bomb-building a lethal endeavor for insurgents, by increasing the inherent risk when processing materials.
Of course, enhancing the safety of ammonium nitrate fertilizers is already a priority largely a futile one in military and law enforcement circles. Last year, U.S. manufacturer Honeywell debuted a new fertilizer meant to be less explosive by combining ammonium sulfate a fertilizer and fire retardant with ammonium nitrate. Company execs even pitched the U.S. government on the product, but tests concluded that the fertilizers constituents could easily be pulled apart and the ammonium nitrate used in bombs.
Since 1995 when a fertilizer bomb leveled the federal building in Oklahoma City the American government has been partnering with The Fertilizer Institute, a U.S. trade organization, to study whether ammonium nitrate fertilizers could be rendered non-explosive. Sixteen years later, the answer remains a resounding no study after study has concluded that the fertilizer is essentially impossible to neutralize.
Those studies are hampered by an inevitable challenge: The fertilizer needs to be neutralized, but its still gotta*work for farmers. Particularly those in Pakistan, where more than half the economy relies on agriculture and whose climate and soil conditions are ideally suited to ammonium nitrate fertilizer.*A*variety of requirements must be met to preserve the safety and effectiveness for agricultural use, the solicitation notes. New formulations must [also] provide nearly the same value .
JIEDDO also wants new compounds that could make fertilizer bombs easier to detect. Despite some progress most notably the top secret*Project Ursus* theres no reliable way to detect a fertilizer bomb. The agency suggests that a few extra ingredients could*alter the physical or chemical properties of [fertilizer bombs] in such a way as to increase a signature that can be exploited.
At least in that case, the agency might not have to sneak the chemicals into the fertilizer: *Pakarab, the main supplier of ammonium nitrate fertilizer in Pakistan, has already indicated a willingness to add such chemicals to their product. Last year, the company tested pink dye thatd distinguish their fertilizer from non-explosive varieties at the nations border.
Itll likely take years for JIEDDO to come up with an additive that can keep fertilizer out of a terrorists bomb-making arsenal. When they do, itll certainly be a boon for plenty of countries, many of which are already banning or tightly regulating ammonium nitrate fertilizers to prevent bomb attacks.
But tampering with a fertilizer supply thats often stolen or smuggled from a country thats hardly offering much help is hardly a trivial undertaking. Whatever wizardry the militarys bomb-stopping sleuths are able to muster, stopping Afghanistans bomb-makers (and saving American lives) will no doubt require plenty of political alchemy as well.
Pentagon Looks to Sabotage Pakistan's Bomb Supply | Danger Room | Wired.com
The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO, wants to tamper with the supplies of fertilizer, the primary component in the bombs that have killed 719 American soldiers in Afghanistan since 2001. One small problem: Most of the 480,000 pounds of fertilizer used in Afghanistans bombs is smuggled out of Pakistan, and U.S. officials have hardly convinced that country to clamp down.
Were not going to solve the IED problem inside Afghanistan, a senior U.S. military official told ABC News last week. If we dont go after the supply, were playing defense.
Thats exactly what JIEDDOs looking to do. The agencys new*call for research, first spotted by InsideDefense.com, asks for*additives and methods to disrupt or discourage [bomb] manufacturing from fertilizer.
A fertilizer bomb is little more than ammonium nitrate, fuel and a simple detonator, and it can be assembled in one of two ways: For the most potent explosives, bomb makers can boil the fertilizer to separate its constituent parts and score a supply of ammonium nitrate the chemical theyre actually after. Or, they can crush up the fertilizers granules and use em as a quick-and-dirty bomb-building base.
JIEDDO is hoping to mess with that process. Theyre interested in compounds thatd make the fertilizer turn to foam or gel when mixed with water rendering the boiling process futile (and rather messy). Or, JIEDDO wants some kind of grinding inhibitor that would keep the fertilizer granules in one piece, making them entirely useless to terrorists trying to dissolve or grind them.
But one of the most promising possibilities, floated during JIEDDO chief Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barberos recent trip to Pakistan: adding coated urea fertilizer granules to the bags of ammonium nitrate. The combination of urea and ammonium nitrate has a strong affinity for water and would be very difficult for insurgents to dry into an explosive powder, the Washington Post reported. The urea additives would not stop the insurgents from processing the fertilizer into bombs, but it would complicate their task and potentially make the blast less potent.
The agencys also got more malevolent ideas. Theyre open to additives that would actually make bomb-building a lethal endeavor for insurgents, by increasing the inherent risk when processing materials.
Of course, enhancing the safety of ammonium nitrate fertilizers is already a priority largely a futile one in military and law enforcement circles. Last year, U.S. manufacturer Honeywell debuted a new fertilizer meant to be less explosive by combining ammonium sulfate a fertilizer and fire retardant with ammonium nitrate. Company execs even pitched the U.S. government on the product, but tests concluded that the fertilizers constituents could easily be pulled apart and the ammonium nitrate used in bombs.
Since 1995 when a fertilizer bomb leveled the federal building in Oklahoma City the American government has been partnering with The Fertilizer Institute, a U.S. trade organization, to study whether ammonium nitrate fertilizers could be rendered non-explosive. Sixteen years later, the answer remains a resounding no study after study has concluded that the fertilizer is essentially impossible to neutralize.
Those studies are hampered by an inevitable challenge: The fertilizer needs to be neutralized, but its still gotta*work for farmers. Particularly those in Pakistan, where more than half the economy relies on agriculture and whose climate and soil conditions are ideally suited to ammonium nitrate fertilizer.*A*variety of requirements must be met to preserve the safety and effectiveness for agricultural use, the solicitation notes. New formulations must [also] provide nearly the same value .
JIEDDO also wants new compounds that could make fertilizer bombs easier to detect. Despite some progress most notably the top secret*Project Ursus* theres no reliable way to detect a fertilizer bomb. The agency suggests that a few extra ingredients could*alter the physical or chemical properties of [fertilizer bombs] in such a way as to increase a signature that can be exploited.
At least in that case, the agency might not have to sneak the chemicals into the fertilizer: *Pakarab, the main supplier of ammonium nitrate fertilizer in Pakistan, has already indicated a willingness to add such chemicals to their product. Last year, the company tested pink dye thatd distinguish their fertilizer from non-explosive varieties at the nations border.
Itll likely take years for JIEDDO to come up with an additive that can keep fertilizer out of a terrorists bomb-making arsenal. When they do, itll certainly be a boon for plenty of countries, many of which are already banning or tightly regulating ammonium nitrate fertilizers to prevent bomb attacks.
But tampering with a fertilizer supply thats often stolen or smuggled from a country thats hardly offering much help is hardly a trivial undertaking. Whatever wizardry the militarys bomb-stopping sleuths are able to muster, stopping Afghanistans bomb-makers (and saving American lives) will no doubt require plenty of political alchemy as well.
Pentagon Looks to Sabotage Pakistan's Bomb Supply | Danger Room | Wired.com
