Marines Will Deploy New IED Jammers In Afghanistan

It’s time to jam…

The USMC has developed a new “airborne electronic attack pod” that will be used to jam enemy radio communications and improvised explosive device (IED) detonators. Using tactical aircraft like the Harrier and F/A-18 Hornet, the Marines will be be flying electronic attack missions to disrupt Taliban efforts to target Marines with those nasty IEDs. The USMC have carried out some of these missions in the past, flying the EA-6B Prowler. But the program is about to get a whole lot bigger. If all goes well, they will soon be adding these pods to Huey and Cobra helicopters, and eventually drones. To make the systems even more effective, the pod can be networked with other airborne pod systems, creating a highly effective “system of systems.”

Electronic jammers from the air

This will save lives and limbs. And its relatively cheap. An individual pod costs just $600,000 and the total program cost will be less than $20 million. My only question: Why didn’t they think of this before?