They were showing videos of how simple they were to make, a few years ago.

Get wire/tinfoil..
Connect the ends of two 110mm rounds...
Attach cell phone, at the battery capacitor..
then call it and boom.

ied's are not the same as "landmines"

IED's use landmine and other explosive guts to fire a large flat projectile, usually copper machined to fit into a round steel casing.
the copper deforms and forms a bullet shape,
though usually in 1 foot to 2 foot diameters, the molten projectile has an incredible amount of weight and force,
and i would imagine the IED's were usually taught to build by extremists by cia agents during cold war area proxy handlers,

Originally posted by ValisInUnderland
ied's are not the same as "landmines"

IED's use landmine and other explosive guts to fire a large flat projectile, usually copper machined to fit into a round steel casing.
the copper deforms and forms a bullet shape,
though usually in 1 foot to 2 foot diameters, the molten projectile has an incredible amount of weight and force,
and i would imagine the IED's were usually taught to build by extremists by cia agents during cold war area proxy handlers,

Apparently you didn't watch the part of the video where an IED was made out of two flat pieces of wood and two pieces of rubber that required only one pound of compression to detonate.

You guys should really watch the videos before trying to comment.

I'm in the middle of watching this. Very interesting and a bit grim... I wouldn't want to be a soldier having to navigate this battlefield. Any potential cover in the terrain is much more likely IED to get anyone seeking cover from fire.

The pressure plate design is lethally simplistic. Two saw blades each linked to a batter via copper wire. Between the blades thin compressible foam, and when stepped on causing the electrical link and sets off the explosive...

As we develop technology to defeat the IED, the taliban just adapt and use a new mechanism to set the device off. We suffer losses of men, equipment and money... We are forced to invest millions to defeat the latest method.

Meanwhilr, they are building these for few dollars out of common parts from Pakistan.

Arguing about military terminology, comic gold!

"IED" is far too overused.

I keep thinking to myself, that a device based on electromagnetism would be an idea for setting these things off at distance and preventing them from detonating under or near UK/US/NATO forces. Imagine an arc generator, sending out tendrils of electromagnetic energy outward from the front of a vehicle, probing the ground, and searching for the route of least resistance, that being, any wire or battery, activating the circuit before the vehicle to which the generator is attatched, comes within range.

You could have this thing powered from pezio electrical and solar generators.

IEDs and land mines are really two separate devices.
While landmines will hurt and kill an enemy that's not thier main function.
Land mines are placed in multiples and are used to deny the enemy use of an area, or route.
They can also be used for defense and to channel the enemy into a kill zone.
Land mines can be defeated by engineers and lane clearing devices.
A landmine field is also usually also covered by artillery or machine gun fire.

IEDs are usually only placed in one or twos.
They can be command detonated but are usually just weapons of chance.
They are desgined to create a war of attrition.

So they are more like kissing cousins to each other.

I believe that the manufacture of IED's is a billion dollar business in the world today. One of the main differences between Iraq and Afghanistan, is that the majority of roads in Iraq are paved, while the majority of roads in Afghanistan are not. This makes it easier, and cheaper for the Taliban, too dig holes in the roads for placement of IED's.

Originally posted by Erno86
I believe that the manufacture of IED's is a billion dollar business in the world today. One of the main differences between Iraq and Afghanistan, is that the majority of roads in Iraq are paved, while the majority of roads in Afghanistan are not. This makes it easier, and cheaper for the Taliban, too dig holes in the roads for placement of IED's.

that's exactly what I'm thinking.

Originally posted by ValisInUnderland
ied's are not the same as "landmines"

IED's use landmine and other explosive guts to fire a large flat projectile, usually copper machined to fit into a round steel casing.
the copper deforms and forms a bullet shape,
though usually in 1 foot to 2 foot diameters, the molten projectile has an incredible amount of weight and force,
and i would imagine the IED's were usually taught to build by extremists by cia agents during cold war area proxy handlers,

The IED you are referring to was used to defeat the heavy armor on the troop carriers and tanks. It fired an explosive formed metallic projectile. The IEDs used in Afghanistan are the same makeup as the bomb that was used in the OKC bombing. They take regular fertilizer mix with diesel place an explosive device inside it and that is there IED. Depending on the area and the vehicles they want to destroy these can be as big as 500 to 750 lbs of fertilizer. A large on will blow an MRAP many feet in the air and many feet from where it started. If it doen't kill everyone inside they are severely wounded. Tey are for a war of atrition and inflict fear into the enemy. They are hard if not impossible to detect. Their technology is constantly changing.