Incident Response: Broader role for life-saving C-IED robots | ADM Sept 2009

While roadside bombs remain the big killer, life-saving ground-based robots are proving to be invaluable tools in their detection and neutralisation.

Tom Muir | Canberra

Billions have been spent on up-armouring and mine-proofing vehicles and producing mine-resistant new vehicles, on intelligence methods and RF jamming devices to disrupt portions of the radio spectrum that insurgents use to trigger IEDs.

However it is clear that insurgents have quickly adapted to countermeasures with new more sophisticated IEDs increasingly being used.

Recent trends show an increase in the number of effective IED attacks in Afghanistan and IED-related casualties, including fatalities, suffered by Australian soldiers have increased commensurately in recent months.

Reports suggest that few experiences compare with the helplessness felt by those involved in an IED attack, which in many ways is similar to a sniper ambush.

There's no anxious, emotional build-up prior to an attack because IEDs are weapons of surprise and for those involved the experience is searing.

The combination of helplessness, surprise, chaos, collateral damage and anonymity of the attacker contribute to tactical anxiety.

According to a recent US Congressional report on IEDs, Taliban forces in Afghanistan appear to have learned some IED techniques from the Iraqi insurgents and some areas of Afghanistan are now reportedly becoming too dangerous for reconstruction efforts there to continue.

And while Coalition forces, including Australians, serving in Afghanistan have raised the protection levels of their vehicles they are also adopting other measures to reduce the risk from the ever present threat.

In Iraq and now Afghanistan man and unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) work side by side with the number of ground robots climbing from some 100 plus in 2001 to more than 6,000 today with more said to be on the way.

They conduct reconnaissance in urban areas, assist with vehicle and roadside inspection and in the defeat of IEDs.

Thousands of lives have been saved, thanks to robots that were able to neutralise IEDs before the devices could maim or kill coalition troops or innocent civilians.

Indeed reports indicate that Australians have disarmed most of the many IEDs encountered this past year, after painstaking detection work including with the use of counter-IED robots.

The ADF's Counter IED Task Force was established in Canberra under Brigadier Phil Winter, to coordinate the complex tasks required to minimise the threat.

Its work broadly includes scientific research, intelligence, development of doctrine and importantly, the delivery of training.

In a recent report Winter said this lethal form of warfare had spawned a whole new cultural awareness for the ADF with Australia's military having to learn new ways of conducting operations and evolve new training methods for infantry going to Afghanistan.

And while pre-deployment training is conducted in Queensland, ongoing counter-IED training continues in theatre.

A C-IED training lane was opened at Camp Holland in Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan province in June.

The lane is part of an IED training program for both ISAF and Afghan National Security Force troops to increase their skills in the detection of IEDs and help to reduce the number of casualties caused by the devices.

Constructed by Dutch engineers and the Australian Mentoring Reconstruction Task Force, the lane consists of a road in which instructors plant fake IEDs, or practice-bombs, to help troops increase their IED-awareness.

The first training course commenced the day of the official opening.

Insurgents use IEDs to target security forces throughout Afghanistan.

It is, however, innocent Afghan civilians who are most often killed and injured by IEDs.

Role of C-IED robots
As noted military ground robots are proliferating, many with quite specific roles, as military leaders increasingly rely on them for tasks that can free up soldiers for those missions where human intelligence counts.

Robots for military ground applications have primarily been limited to explosive ordnance disposal, where a robot uses its suite of sensors to locate and destroy IEDs, that have killed or injured hundreds of soldiers and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, they are becoming more specialised to suit a variety of new missions including UGV reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition (RSTA) as well as NBC (nuclear/biological/chemical) detection.

They are also finding roles in logistics and cargo transportation, obstacle breaching and even removing wounded from the battlefield.

Other potential roles include remote target acquisition and designation, route clearance and IED and mine detection and disposal.

While robots initially found their niche with the IED threat in Iraq and Afghanistan, in 2009 they are rapidly becoming a general purpose tool for the infantry.

In Australia, the Army has employed ground robots for a variety of security roles including reconnaissance, vehicle inspection and in the detection and identification of roadside bombs and IEDs.

iRobot UGVs
Although there has been considerable research in the development of low cost, expendable ground robots in this country-Canberra-based Ausrobot has considerable expertise in this field building on earlier work by the DSTO - the ADF decided to acquire inservice UHV capabilities including the QinetiQ Talon UGVs and iRobot systems, the latter through Boeing Defence Australia, which also provides training, maintenance and support services for the iRobot range.

The iRobot PackBot was first used to remotely look for enemy soldiers thought to be hiding in an agricultural centre building in Iraq on 30 March 2003.

The following day it was used to remotely examine equipment left on an airfield before engineers cleared the runway for humanitarian relief operations.

In both operations, Packbot operators used the robot to verify there were, in fact, no enemy soldiers, in the building or booby traps or mines on the airfield where the enemy was believed to have conducted airfield denial operations.

Capable of maneuvering over and around obstacles, it is equipped with remote infrared and optical cameras that operators can use to closely examine caves, rooms or airfields while at a distance safely away from the effects of surprises such as booby traps, mines, weapons caches, or enemy soldiers.

Operators use a wireless controller to manoeuvre the robot and control the camera.

The view from the cameras is seen through a helmet-mounted eyepiece.

The Australian Army has carried out trials and operational concepts on the iRobot PackBot Scout and the iRobot PackBot Explorer systems.

The Scout is a lightweight reconnaissance robot used to search buildings and caves for hostile forces.

Less than 20 centimeters high and only 18 kilograms fully loaded, the Scout offers five open payload bays for maximum upgrade potential.

The Explorer allows soldiers to stay at safe stand-off distances while the robot relays real-time video, audio and sensor readings.

Buildings, bunkers, caves, tunnels, sewers, collapsed structures and other areas that are dangerous or inaccessible to humans can be remotely searched to make sure there are no surprises - like booby traps, mines, weapons caches or enemy soldiers.

In 2007, iRobot and Boeing teamed to develop the SUGV 300 Series of tactical robots that gather situational awareness in dangerous conditions.

Smaller and lighter versions of the iRobot PackBot, the SUGV 300 Series robots, climb stairs, roll over rubble and enter areas that are inaccessible or too dangerous for people, providing a safer working environment for infantry and EOD technicians.

Since 2006, iRobot has sold robots to 13 allied countries, including Australia, Gemany, Israel, and the UK.

iRobot announced in August that it has received a US$5.1 million order from the US Army TACOM Contracting Center.

This is the 11th order under the US$286 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity xBot contract, bringing the total contract value to approximately US$86 million.

The xBot contract has been moved from the US Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) to the US Army TACOM Contracting Center.

The order calls for the delivery of 14 iRobot PackBot 510 with FasTac Kit robots and spare parts.

Spare parts include manipulator arms, cameras and ruggedised laptops.

Foster-Miller Talon range
The Foster-Miller (now QinetiQ) Talon is a powerful, lightweight, versatile robot designed for missions ranging from reconnaissance to weapons delivery.

Its large, quick-release cargo bay accommodates a variety of sensor payloads, making the Talon a role-adaptable system for various mission requirements.

Built with all-weather, day/night and amphibious capabilities standard, it can operate under adverse conditions to overcome almost any terrain.

The robot is controlled through a two-way RF or F/O line from a portable or wearable Operator Control Unit (OCU) that provides continuous data and video feedback for precise vehicle positioning.

Talon's payload and sensor options include: multiple cameras (colour, black and white, infrared, thermal, zero light), a two-stage arm, gripper manipulators, pan/tilt, two-way communications, NBC (nuclear/biological/chemical) sensors, radiation sensors, UXO/countermine detection sensors, grenade and smoke placing modules, breaching tools, communications equipment, distracters and disrupters.

Late last year, the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) raised a foreign military sales order worth $23 million for Talon unmanned ground vehicles and spares with deliveries due to be completed by April next year.

Earlier an advance order worth $2.92 million had been placed, for which deliveries have now been completed.

QinetiQ has established a service centre for Talon systems in Sydney to provide spares and other support to ADF and Australian customers as well as those in the Asia-Pacific region.

QinetiQ recently announced that it had developed a new addition to its Talon range of robots, some 2,500 of which have already been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq and the new Talon IV is designed specifically for operation in the region.

According to the manufacturer the Talon IV Engineer robot, with its extra strength and reach expands the capabilities of troops to remotely clear routes, minefields or other hazardous areas.

Like other offerings from the firm, troops will be able to use the robot to look inside and around vehicles and other barriers.