Protecting the CRPF convoy from Maoist IED's

Protecting the CRPF convoy from Maoist IED's

Last week, Maoists attacked a CRPF convoy with IED's and executed the Soldiers. The truck who carried the CRPF soldiers blown by pieces, those injured soldiers executed by the maoists, and the weapons used by the soldiers also looted by them. The CRPF used private truck to move from the base, even the soldiers is in civilian dress to make them safe from the Maoist threat.

Usually the standard operating procedure of moving the troops from one base to another, carried out by mine protected vehicles only, however the maoists plants much higher amount of IED's which can even rip off the MPV's too. So the CRPF uses the civil dress and hire private truck for any transport, which makes the truck safer from maoists that they think it could be some sort of civilians.

Reports said, the Maoists planted the IED on the road more than 10 days ago, that they expected CRPF must use this road to transport the troops. and the IED was triggered from just few meters away using wired detonator. Which can be hardly countered by IED jammers too.

This is not something new, that Maoists doing this in regular interval in north eastern region, months ago they did the same in Dantewada by killing the CRPF jawans who also used the private truck for transport. Seriously there is a need of changing the SOP. which allows safe transport to the CRPF. It's clear the MPV's are not useful, Private trucks are also not useful, Some reports also suggests the movement of CRPF soldiers is gathered by the Maoists before attacking the truck.

There is some sort of countermeasures to safeguard the troops, which comes from sniffer dogs to air cover. Usually NATO forces in Middle east and Ukraine in Eastern Russian borders faced huge amount of IED threat, however they managed safe transport from one position to other. Where they use wide range of systems to protect them from IED's.

Remotely operated IED's can be easily countered by IED jammers, which can be fitted in any kind of mobile platforms, they came into small portable version or an dedicated vehicle for wide area protection. Usually most nations prefers the IED jammers for convoy protection. However in India there were no good IED jammers for Military and para military, while they can be used only for VIP convoy protection.

IED jammers are the only good option to outcome from such massive amount of IED attacks. However if the IED's are activated by wired devices like the Maoist used in last attack couldn't help. So they need mine ploughers. Mine ploughers are good in desert conditions and battlefield but not used for cross countries, since it will damage the public roads.

Another good option is using dedicated mine clearing vehicles, such as Husky and RG 33 vehicles, who can lead the convoy, Here CRPF uses one or two vehicles, providing dedicated mine clearing vehicle to each and every vehicle is not a feasible option. So it's better, providing them with proper air transport for small scale movement and using land based convoy's for large transport.

The Arab coalition in Yemen encountered by a huge IED threat posed all along the highway, however only one or two vehicles lost into the Houthi IED's. where more than ten thousand of transport mission successfully accomplished using dedicated IED clearing vehicles.

One more is, reports suggested that Soldiers who injured by the IED attacks was killed by Maoist using fire arms. which means they ambushed the convoy and executed the Soldiers. here too a air cover is better for providing close escort to the convoy's, Those helicopters comes with thermal imaging and Infrared systems to detect enemy's in close range, who alert the ground vehicle about the threat nearby.

So it's better providing close air cover with small IED jammers in the convoy is the only available solution to outcome from Maoist IED's.