Dealing with IEDs

The third type of specialized vehicles we are acquiring makes its appearance in Afstan:

The deadliest war within the war in Afghanistan entered a new era yesterday as Canadian combat engineers tried out, for the first time, some high-tech devices designed to keep Taliban improvised explosive devices from killing Canadians.

A South African-made Husky mine detection vehicle, which looks like an awkward road grader with wheeled extensions trailing behind to detonate buried explosives, was put through its paces on a dusty field near the Kandahar airfield...

The Husky, which has four wheels set far apart, with the driver riding high in the middle on an armoured, V-shaped hull, is designed to work in concert with two other huge vehicles. One, called the Buffalo, will be equipped with a long robot arm to defuse, disable or detonate whatever is found hidden in the ground. The second, known as a Cougar, will carry explosives experts, robots and electronic suppression devices.

The vehicles, originally designed for the U.S. army to counter IEDs in Iraq, are used to "prove" -- or drive over -- roads most often used by Canadian patrols and convoys "to make them safe for the boys on suspicious roads," Capt. Holsworth said.

The military quietly announced in May that it would purchase the specialized anti-IED vehicles from the U.S. military for close to $30 million, with the first of the vehicles expected to arrive in the fall. In all, there will be six complete multi-vehicle suites: four of them expected to be fully operational here by the end of the year and two more deployed in Canada for training purposes. Some Husky vehicles may be on the road sooner...

"The best thing about the Husky is that it is simple," Sgt. Jean-François De Wolfe said. "That is the way it is designed. It is all the training that we get that makes this a winner."

Sgt. De Wolfe added that he considered the Husky to be "the best vehicle there is against explosions. It's like you step on every inch of the ground."..

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Canada is buying 16 vehicles, including six Huskies, at a cost of $29.6-million. Two of the Huskies will remain in Canada for training purposes, while the rest will be deployed in Afghanistan.

The U.S.-built Buffalo has an arm used to dig out IEDs while the crew remains inside the heavily armoured vehicle.

The Cougar is equipped to disable and destroy roadside bombs.

The Buffaloes and Cougars will arrive at a later date.

It has not been decided whether the Huskies will immediately begin to accompany Canadian convoys or will be deployed when the other armoured vehicles arrive.