Fly around it.
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), often in the form of roadside bombs detonated as military convoys pass, are a big problem. Data collected for ‘Honor the Fallen’, a database created by the Military Times, shows that, of the 5,413 US soldiers killed on operations where the cause of death was known, some 2,640 were killed by IEDs..
2,591 of these were male, 48 were female. In total, 1,790 troops died from IEDs in Iraq and 828 Afghanistan.
This means that 48.7% of total military deaths between the 9th September, 2011 and the 9th October, 2020 were attributed to IEDs; in Iraq, 52% of forces killed died from IEDs, in Afghanistan it was 48.2%.
But what if convoys didn't have to follow roads?
The US Air Force is testing flying cars or Organic Resupply Vehicles (ORBs) to replace ground vehicles.
The military could end up using a range of ORBs, including larger ones for cargo and smaller ones solely for moving people, explained Air Mobility Command's Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost.
"For the Air Force, specifically Air Mobility Command, Agility Prime has the potential to bring next generation agility to movement, delivery, sustainment and air medical evacuation to the battlespace," Van Ovost said in the December release.
Other applications include missions that the military conducts in coordination with other federal agencies or civilian organizations, such as humanitarian aid and disaster response, aerial medical supply delivery, search and rescue and wildfire suppression, the release said.
Of course, if convoys take to the air then attackers will turn to ground to air missiles instead of IEDs, but their routes will no longer be predictable and missiles can be detected and spoofed more easily than a buried IED.