Support Capabilities to Supplement C-IED Mission. Part 1

Actions and activities taken against the IED threat comprise complex tasks. In the beginning, the focus was on the deactivation and destruction of IEDs, as the only way to fight against them. As time has passed more existing capabilities were included in the field of C-IED, which were able to contribute to the mitigation of the effectiveness of an IED attack. Due to the fact that the first type of response to IED-threat was tasked to combat engineers, particularly to EOD personnel, that was rather obvious that C-IED missions and responsibilities fell to combat engineers. Nowadays, however, capabilities and capacities in the C-IED can be identified that exceed the competence of engineer units and commanders. C-IED requires a comprehensive approach. In a staff and headquarters lots of capabilities and capacities should be involved in C-IED activities, which requires coordination and cooperation. The involvement of those capabilities depends on the type of mission, its phases, and the nature of IED threat. Thus a mission commander needs to understand which are the C-IED enablers that can contribute to C-IED tasks, when and how they influence or mitigate IED threats.