Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP
Madrid 9 - 11 June 2015
C-IED
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
EOD
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
Funded by
NATO ESCD DAT POW and EDA
Disclaimer:
This publication is a product of the NATO C-IED Centre of Excellence. It does not necessarily
reflect the policy or the opinion of the Centre or NATO. The Centre may not be held responsible
for any loss or harm arising from the use of information contained in this publication and is not
responsible for the content of the external sources, including external websites referenced in this
publication.
Digital or hard copies of this publication may be produced for internal use within NATO and for
personal or educational use when for nonprofit and non-commercial purpose, provided that copies
bear a full citation.
Unless other identified, the photographs shown in this Report are the sole property of the C-IED
COE and the presentation copyrights owners have authorized its publication.
Photographer: Cristina Gmez Villar (C-IED COE Graphic designer and Photographer)
www.ciedcoe.org
info@ciedcoe.org
INDEX
2
Executive Summary
Workshop Aim
Panel Discussions
35
Conclusions
36
Way Ahead
38
Impressions
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The 2nd C-IED Technology Workshop, held at Madrid (Spain) from 09 to 11 June 2015, was coorganized by the C-IED Centre of Excellence and the EOD Centre of Excellence and sponsored
by The NATO Emerging Security Challenges Division (ESCD) Defence against Terrorism Program
of Work (DAT POW) and the European Defence Agency (EDA). The workshop was chaired by the
Director of the Counter IED Centre of Excellence, Colonel Jose Zamorano.
For the second consecutive year the C-IED COE played the crucial role of being the NATO hub for
C-IED activities, particularly focused on the technology solutions applied to fighting IEDs. The workshop fostered information sharing between the main C-IED actors: military forces, law enforcement
agencies, research institutions, defence industry, and other national and international organizations.
This years workshop consisted of a NATO classified day followed by two non-classified days. The
three day event comprising 10 discussion panels provided the opportunity to present and analyse
todays most important C-IED issues. The panel topics ranged from Global IED threat trends and
emerging IED challenges through C-IED Technology gaps and future requirements to discussions
about Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) to counter Radio Controlled IEDs (RCIED), vehicle damage analysis processes, equipment standardization, maritime C-IED technologies, standoff IED detection technologies, Research and Development synergies among related agencies, and common
military and law enforcement technologies.
The panel discussions were moderated by senior subject matter experts from across the C-IED
Community. The discussion sessions were combined with live demonstrations and static exhibitions
highlighting C-IED related equipment and solutions while offering the optimal setting to facilitate
networking opportunities.
Participation included 175 registered delegates and 240 visitors from 24 countries including many
across the European Union as well as Canada, the United States, Norway, Turkey, and Israel. In
addition, 21 companies, institutes, and universities presented their products and projects in the exhibition hall at the Spanish Military Sport Club La Dehesa.
A number of important common elements were gathered to define the way ahead. While many were
interesting the most pressing and relevant are below:
The key to countering IED threats is a widely understood and common view of the IED threat and
current technologies. In addition to advanced technologies for detection, neutralization and mitigation of IEDs the European/NATO C-IED Community of Interest (COI) requires strong interagency
cooperation. This is especially true in the field of information sharing. Since IED threat networks
operate in all environments, including maritime, C-IED should be institutionalized as a joint, interagency effort that includes information exchanges among all relevant organizations and standardized
exploitation procedures and training.
Knowledge is the foundation on which we tailor C-IED training and develop innovative technology
solutions. The basis to define the requirements for C-IED technologies (protective, reactive and
proactive) is an agreed standards-based research model that ensures equipment interoperability.
The need for standardization is particularly acute concerning stand-off IED detection technologies.
2. WORKSHOP AIM
The purpose of the event was to gather experts from military, law enforcement, industry and academia to provoke an exchange of views and troubleshoot the various challenges we collectively face
when dealing with the IED threat.
The workshop had the following specific goals:
Provide a valuable meeting point to promote C-IED technology info sharing among military,
law enforcement, industry and academic communities.
Provide a global IED threat update to enhance the threat understanding among the Community of Interest.
Present upcoming or foreseen C-IED challenges and explore potential technological gaps and
solutions.
Present current and future C-IED technology related programs. Provoke a valid discussion to
provide solutions/suggestions that could be helpful to avoid duplicative R&D programs.
Discuss and provide way ahead for equipment standardization to enable the alignment of operational needs, technological efforts and industry developments.
Present industry with current and future proposals to facilitate C-IED capability enhancements.
3. PANEL DISCUSSIONS
*We provided abbreviated summaries of panels 1 through 4 due to the classified nature of the discussions on day one. A full report with detailed summaries of all panels is available on BICES.
Armored VBIED
Way Forward
Intelligence and understanding is the key to detecting and forecasting new IED threats. The Internet
is increasingly important in the C-IED fight as many of the threat networks activities are done on the
Web (recruiting, funding, radicalizing, sharing expertise, etc). There is a need for more European/
NATO interagency coordination and information exchange on the types of IEDs that could be encountered in counter-terror operations and specific information on threats to facilities and personnel.
Advanced technologies are necessary to detect, neutralize and mitigate the new IED threats. Accurate threat assessments are critical to ensuring governments and industries can develop technologies to counter evolving and innovative threats employed by an increasingly interconnected group
of global terrorist organizations that use IEDs to achieve their objectives.
Major Eric Schilling, USA, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS)
The UNMAS Perspective on IED Use and Response
United Nations Mine Action Service is the UN agency in charge of dealing with IEDs at all current
UN missions. Today, peacekeeping operations are being targeted with greater frequency, where
threat actors and spoilers employ IEDs as a means to disrupt the political process and reconciliation, threaten humanitarian programs and to create general instability and insecurity. Major Schilling
discussed UNMAS C-IED vision and the UNs policy on IEDs. He also addressed the recent report
Way Forward
One major gap is the way C-IED knowledge and information is managed and shared. We must
develop a way to quickly share information across military and law enforcement channels so the
relevant actors stay ahead of the threat.
C-IED training has to be tailored to the new mission scenarios. Training used during the last conflict
cannot be pulled off the shelf and reused without a thorough evaluation of the threat and a modification of the training to address the current challenge.
Understanding and intelligence is also the base to develop technological solutions for the AtN, PtF
and DtD pillars of the C-IED fight. UNMAS identified several aspects to improve their capacity to
effectively address the IED threat. UNMASs capability and technology gaps are outlined in the recently released UN Peace Keeping Operations Technology and Innovation Panel Report.
Mr Lewis shared several RCIED ECM interoperability considerations when operating in the Coalition
environment.
Way Forward
Despite the effectiveness of IEDs using less sophisticated technology, the RCIED threat remains
prolific and we should expect terrorists to continue exploiting the radio frequency spectrum. It is
essential that we continue developing advanced ECM platforms to more effectively counter current
and emerging anticipated RCIED threats. ECM interoperability among coalition forces is absolutely
critical. We can only ensure compatibility by nations sharing design information during the development phase of their ECM platforms. Operating with coalition partners in the future will be the rule
rather than the exception and we must get beyond national caveats to ensure the protection of our
military forces against RCIED threats during combat operations.
The use of RCIEDs to initiate explosive devices remains a widely used approach. It is essential to
continue developing advanced ECM platforms to counter this ever morphing threat.
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12
Way Forward
The consistent and disciplined collection of data from combat damaged vehicles has allowed each
nation to conduct meaningful engineering and statistical analysis. When linked with the analysis
of casualty injuries, this effort has led to significant improvements in vehicle protection. Different
exploitation levels, from the explosion scene to deeper computer analysis are required to obtain all
viable data.
Data collection and the exploitation process after combat incidents is time consuming, but worthwhile. By analysing casualties, their location in vehicles as well as their wounds and injuries, many
improvements can be made in the protection of vehicles and their crews.
The panel members are currently working with the NATO Standardization Office (NSO) to codify a
combat vehicle damage analysis process in a NATO Standardization Agreement so that other nations can benefit from this knowledge and potentially develop their own national capability.
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14
15
Way Forward
In this era of shrinking defence budgets, the most cost effective way for countries to maintain modern, advanced military equipment is too pool their expertise and develop collaborative bilateral, multi-lateral, EDA, NATO, or non-NATO nation agreements using established NATO standards to lead
the effort. This panel provided the workshop delegates with some of the major initiatives currently
on-going throughout NATO. It also addressed the need to develop NATO standards for specific CIED equipment and training where interoperability among NATO forces is absolutely critical during
expeditionary operations.
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17
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Ms Jessica Rajkowski, U.S. Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) /MITRE, USA
Challenge-Based Acquisition for the JIEDDO Culvert Challenge
Ms Rajkowski gave an interesting review of Challenge-Based Acquisition and its application to Department of Defence problem sets. She included information on JIEDDOs active program utilizing
Challenge Based-Acquisition to focus on culvert IEDs. JIEDDO held the Culvert Challenge in the
fall of 2014 to seek technologies for inspection and long-term surveillance of culverts. Widespread
industry participation resulted in an understanding of the state of the art of counter-IED technologies for these applications, and JIEDDOs ability to make acquisition decisions based on the results.
Ms Rajkowski emphasized that challenges provide an opportunity to communicate needs to industry and allow performance to drive acquisition decisions while encouraging innovation and saving
money. Counter-IED technologies are well suited for Challenge-Based Acquisition, which will allow
technologies to be assessed against standardised criteria.
Ms Rajkowski fielded questions about the European companies that participated in the culvert challenge. She also explained how and where JIEDDO posts the request for proposals to include the
challenge specifications and scoring requirements for the event.
Culvert Search
Way Forward
With the vast improvements in equipment technologies and the development of previously unanticipated unique C-IED equipment over the past 15 years, it is time for NATO standardisation efforts to
get ahead of the curve and start driving equipment requirements versus playing catch up after the
required technology is developed. C-IED experts need to work together to identify specific technologies that require standardisation and then commit to developing the necessary standard. It is the
only way to ensure the technologies needed on tomorrows battlefield will be ready and interoperable across the alliance.
Mr Enrique Martin is working with Dr. Schoolderman to submit a NATO standardisation proposal for
IEDDS to NATO in the coming months.
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21
Prof. Agostino G. Bruzzone, NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation, Italy
Innovative Interoperable M&S within Extended Maritime Domain for Critical Infrastructure Protection and C-IED
Professor Bruzzone led a presentation on CMREs Distributed Virtual experience and exercise
(DVx2) which is a virtual interactive exercise enabling NATO Defence against Terrorism Program of
Work (DaT PoW), Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and NATO Executives to demonstrate, validate,
benchmark & appreciate the DAT accomplishments.
He also described many ways in which the CMRE Modelling and Simulation (M&S) capabilities
could support Maritime C-IED. They included:
Education, Training and Crowdsourcing on C-IED by Modelling, Interoperable
Simulation and Serious Games (MS..2G)
Development of new Autonomous Systems as Interoperable Assets in the Extended
Maritime Framework for C-IED
Development of New Concepts and Solutions by Virtual Interoperable Testing (e.g.
persistence, autonomy, reliability)
Evaluation of New Strategic Scenario including new threats (e.g. Autonomous Hostile
Devices)
Each of these elements represents a great opportunity supported by the skills and capabilities within
the Partnership CMRE. The Simulation Team, University of Genoa, and NATO COEs are able to use
the M&S capabilities for Research and Experimentation in a wide spectrum of applications.
22
Way Forward
C-IED does not end at the waters edge. In order to be truly effective in countering an asymmetric
enemy that exploits every possible advantage, gap, and vulnerability, we must ensure C-IED is a
connected and synchronized joint, interagency effort with maximum information exchange between
all relevant organizations. There is a need for standardized exploitation procedures and an expansion of C-IED awareness training for all forces. The salient observation from the Maritime C-IED
panel was that although naval forces use different vehicles and sometimes have to abide by different laws, the C-IED process is the same regardless of the environment and information sharing and
institutionalized training are critical to ensuring our enemies are afforded no safe harbour.
The C-IED COE is working closely with MARCOM to incorporate relevant maritime C-IED aspects
into the AJP 3.15(B) update. These additions are necessary to ensure NATOs Allied Joint Publication for Countering Improvised Explosive Devices reflects the multi-environment nature of the threat
and the comprehensive approach necessary to counter it.
Ms Elena Beganu, Counter Terrorism Section, NATO Emerging Security Challenges Division (ESCD)
NATO DAT POW Defence against Terrorism Programme of Work
Ms Beganu provided an overview of the various programs that NATOs Emerging Security Challenges Division manages in the Defence against Terrorism Programme of Work (DaT PoW). Those
of interest to the C-IED community include the C-IED Technology Workshop, the EOD Trials and
Demonstrations, Exercise Northern Challenge, the Analyst Notebook C-IED add-on, the NATO Automated Biometric Identification System, and the Route Clearance project. She explained how they
use the DAT POW to mitigate NATO urgent requirements and provide political visibility while maintaining niche capability development, maintaining interoperability, and supporting various C-IED exercises, workshops, and trials.
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24
25
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Way Forward
An effective and rapid interagency information exchange is a key factor within the global C-IED fight.
This applies not only to intelligence sharing, but also to technological advances. The military developed a plethora of technologies to counter IEDs over the last 15 years. We must share our hard
learned lessons with the law enforcement community and work together to develop future requirements that promote interoperability while pooling resources and subject matter expertise. By incorporating different backgrounds and experiences, we can better approach a challenge that quickly
transmutes from a battlefield to a domestic threat.
27
28
29
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Way Forward
The understanding and consequent tracking of the existing and future IED trends is the key to face
the threat at an appropriate level. The modelling technologies could be implemented within vehicle
designs to reduce the costs of field tests. A standardization regarding protection levels of structure
against blast attacks would provide guidance to the participating nations within the combined current
and future missions. With shrinking defence research and development budgets across NATO, it is
imperative scientists have the correct requirements from end-users and work together to pool assets
and knowledge in line with NATOs Smart Defence initiative.
31
32
33
Way Forward
The panel agreed on the necessity for standardization documents regarding the definition of the
stand-off detection as well as the stand-off detection equipment requirements. This gap was also
perceived by the representative from the NATO Defence Investments Division and will be added as
a future project. Information sharing and collaboration is important and the NATO Standardization
Office can facilitate this process.
Due to specific technical limitations of the individual technologies, the effectiveness of stand-off IED
detection can only be improved through a combination of a variety of sensors and platforms tailored
for specific environments and missions. This approach would potentially increase the detection rate
of Vehicle-Borne IEDs and Personal-Borne IEDs as these targets are characterized as typically in
motion. It would also increase the possibility of detecting side-attack weapon threats.
34
4. CONCLUSIONS
The IED will continue to be the weapon of choice used by the adversaries and a major concern for
military operations and national security organizations worldwide. The globalization of IED technology is contributing significantly to increased capabilities of threat networks as they successfully implement new and more sophisticated IED techniques and rapidly spread lessons learned. The ease
of access to IED techniques will allow violent extremist organizations to utilize home grown activists
and the IED to conduct attacks within NATO nations borders and beyond. The C-IED COE positioned itself to counter this threat by leveraging our unique authority to access pre-eminent sources
of innovative expertise on all multinational aspects of C-IED in support of the sponsoring nations, by
becoming NATOS transformation expert for C-IED, by supporting C-IED operations, and by becoming the focal point for C-IED education and training for NATO and other Allies.
This 2nd C-IED technology workshop is a perfect example of how the C-IED COE and the EOD COE
are committed to bringing together the primary experts to achieve solutions so as to predict, mitigate,
detect and neutralize the IED threat. Bringing together Military, Law Enforcement, Academia and Industry in the same forum represents the right opportunity to evaluate what has been done recently,
with respect to technology. It also facilitates raising issues on the existing gaps that can be filled in
the future in order to achieve optimal solutions based on the operational requirements that, despite
budget restrictions, will always be the key for future advancements.
The 2nd C-IED Technology Workshop was a world class event organized by the C-IED COE and
EOD COE in close collaboration with IDS, a company that provided excellent support for the 3-day
event and with the support of the NATO ESCD DAT POW and EDA. The large number of participants, personnel from 24 countries, 2 media partners, 19 exhibitors, 45 speakers and 175 participants from Military, Law Enforcement, Academia and Industry was the perfect result achieved due
to the refined objectives and agenda, the active participation of all attendees, and the commitment
of the event organizers.
The C-IED COE will continue hosting these types of events to support all nations and actors in the
C-IED Community of Interest. The presence of the interagency community combined with other
main governmental stakeholders highlights the importance of the Comprehensive approach needed
to increase our effectiveness in the C-IED fight. This aspect added value to the event and will be
increased in the future.
The general opinion from the participants, based on their critique sheets, was that the event should
continue to be organized in the future while always keeping in mind the combination of the three
main C-IED pillars, Attack the Network, Defeat the Device and Prepare the Force.
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W AY A H E A D
36
5. WAY AHEAD
The 2016 NATO EOD Trials & Demonstration will be organized by the EOD COE
in Trenin, Slovakia next year and will be announced soon in order to maximize
participation, gather high level speakers and determine the most relevant topics for
discussion.
It is intended to increase the participation of other stakeholders or enablers in the next
event, such as Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Training,
which will also increase the interest to other participants.
The 3rd C-IED Technology Workshop will be organized by the C-IED COE in Madrid,
Spain in June 2017.
If you would like additional information regarding any of the presentations or would like
to assist with any of the initiatives, please contact Major Philip Cordaro at
pcordaro@ciedcoe.org.
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Impressions
38