With more than 80 percent of US casualties caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), Gates said he decided to set up a special task force in the Pentagon that would look for new ways to counter the threat and pull together an array of initiatives.

"I have decided I need to focus my attention on this problem," Gates told reporters on his plane en route to Wisconsin, calling the threat one of his "top priorities."

"We have a lot of different elements in the Pentagon working on this issue," he said.

"My concern has been whether all of this is being properly integrated, and prioritized and aligned."

The defense secretary's announcement comes amid rising casualties in Afghanistan and complaints from some lawmakers in Congress that the Pentagon's approach to IEDs has been disjointed.

The task force would be led by a top civilian official, Ashton Carter, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, and a senior officer, Lieutenant General John "Jay" Paxton, he said.

The group will be expected to seek advice from commanders in the field and to ensure a unified effort against the homemade bombs, he said.

Gates said the explosives had become "a serious problem" in Afghanistan and that he wanted to draw on the military's experience in Iraq, where the threat was eventually contained.

He also had asked Pentagon experts to look back at the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, when Afghan fighters also used homemade bombs.

"The mujahideen used the same kind of IEDS in a different form against the Soviets," he said. "So let's go back and look at the playbook that they used against the Soviets to see if there's something we can learn" for current tactics.

Combating the bombs required both and offensive and defensive capabilities, Gates said, with intelligence and aerial surveillance aimed at disrupting the insurgent networks behind the explosives combined with tactics and armor to protect soldiers from fatal injury.

As part of his renewed focus on IEDs, Gates visited a factory in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Thursday that start producing a new armored vehicle designed with Afghanistan's rugged terrain in mind.

The lighter, all-terrain M-ATVs were commissioned after commanders found that mine-resistant M-RAPs used in Iraq were too big and cumbersome for Afghanistan.

Gates said the speed that the new vehicles were conceived and built serves as a model for the defense industry, which has often been criticized for delays and cost overruns.

He said it was the first time since World War II that American industry had moved from a concept to full production in less than a year.

Oshkosh Corporation produced 46 of the vehicles in July, was on track to make 660 this month and expected to churn out 1,000 next month, he said. At least 41 of the M-ATVs have been delivered to Afghanistan.

After a tour of the factory floor, Gates thanked some of the 650 workers at Oshkosh Corporation who assemble the vehicles.

"With every vehicle complete, you are saving lives," he said.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
The latest in Military Technology for the 21st century at SpaceWar.com