Regarding the RSIED attack of the 04.07.07 which took the lives of 6 Canadian soldiers and a local interpreter in Afghanistan, i was wondering if there was any update or further info [/U]on the attack. I think it could be important considering the Canadians were inside an RG-31 which, up until this sad event, had proven to be almost immune to such attacks. Some experts hint that the success of this attack may be due to new tactics, tactics which may be exported to other AOs such as the Iraq theatre.
Rsied Attack Against Isaf Convoy
- Thread starter max78
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The RG-31 is emphatically NOT "almost immune" from roadside IEDs. No vehicle is - even US Abrams tanks have been destroyed by IEDs in Iraq, and several Israeli Merkavas were also in the recent Hezbollah conflict. At least one British Challenger 2 has had its armour penetrated also.Regarding the RSIED attack of the 04.07.07 which took the lives of 6 Canadian soldiers and a local interpreter in Afghanistan, i was wondering if there was any update or further info [/U]on the attack. I think it could be important considering the Canadians were inside an RG-31 which, up until this sad event, had proven to be almost immune to such attacks. Some experts hint that the success of this attack may be due to new tactics, tactics which may be exported to other AOs such as the Iraq theatre.
Each IED attack is different and depends on a number of factors, including the amount of explosive, the way the explosive is used (shaped charge, EFP or simple HE), the proximity of the blast to the vehicle, the type of vehicle, which part of the vehicle is hit, and due to the capricious nature of explosives, a certain amount of luck is involved.
RG-31s are very good vehicles that have taken a number of IED blasts very well, but if the IED is big enough there is no vehicle in the world that will save you.
That said, there are some IEDs, such as the EFP, that are particularly sophisticated and quite possibly ARE being exported from either Iraq or Iran into Afghanistan. A properly-engineered EFP IED will have little trouble going through an RG-31.
I don't know if the type of IED used in the attack you're referring to has been released by ISAF - they certainly don't want to encourage their enemy to build more of them by admitting what type of bomb was used. But since six soldiers died, my gut feeling is that it was probably just a very large conventional IED and not an EFP. An EFP hitting a lightly-armoured vehicle like an RG-31 is likely to go in one side and out the other, taking fragments of the target's armour with it and spraying them through the cabin. It may kill or wound a number of personnel but I think it's not likely to kill everyone in the vehicle.
I could be wrong, though. I stand to be corrected.