Headline Star Tribune (subscription required): Electronic bomb ‘jammers’ help protect convoys in Iraq

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. soldiers riding in convoys in Iraq are now relying on electronic “jammers” to help protect against the roadside bombs used by guerrillas.

It’s unclear how widely the jammers — the same technology that saved Pakistan’s leader from a recent assassination attempt — are being used in Iraq. Moreover, the technology isn’t perfect: In some cases it only delays a bomb from detonating, so it can still explode afterward and kill bystanders.

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army’s chief of staff, acknowledged their use in testimony this week before the House Armed Services Committee, but he declined to discuss the jammers in detail. The military does not want to provide useful information to Iraqi insurgents, officials say.

The device works by preventing a remotely transmitted signal — say, sent from a cell phone — from detonating an explosive when the bomber presses the button. Depending on the distance, power and design of the jammer, some might prevent the bomb from going off. Others might instead set it off before or after the convoy passes — potentially wreaking havoc on bystanders.

Roadside bombs have been the primary killers of U.S. troops in Iraq. Many go off under passing convoys, killing or injuring the occupants of one of the vehicles. In some cases, they have gone off after a convoy has passed.

Bomb jammers have been in use since the early 1980s, experts say. Military aircraft have used them for decades, and versions of anti-jamming technology are advertised on the Internet. It’s unclear whether those versions are effective.

Jamming devices carried in the motorcade of Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf delayed the detonation of a huge bomb that exploded moments after his limousine passed over a bridge Dec. 14, Pakistani intelligence has said.

In Israel, a special unit in the Ministry of Defense developed jamming technology in the early 1990s and used it extensively in southern Lebanon in the mid-to late 1990s in an effort to neutralize roadside charges placed by Hezbollah.

In Iraq, employing the jammers is one of a number of steps the military is taking to protect vehicles and soldiers. Others include deploying a more heavily armored Humvee and giving soldiers improved body armor.

Again, its enough to warm the hearts of the Old Crows here at me judice.