In Iraq, the explosively formed penetrator is one of the more fearsome weapons in the insurgent arsenal. An EFP, usually tripped by a passive infrared device, forms a deadly metal slug that can penetrate an armored vehicle's hull. At a recent Army summit, Colonel Peter Fuller, the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Team project manager, showed us a curious photo: 'urban legend' EFP protection.
A Stryker crew had filled hundreds of five-gallon water bottles with a mixture of sand and water and strapped them inside the vehicle's slat armor (the steel 'birdcage' designed to pre-detonate an RPG warhead) in an effort to protect themselves against an EFP attack.
"This is what [soldiers] are doing to try to stop it, and I'm trying to tell them: We tested this, it doesn't work," Fuller explained.
Instead of 'urban legend' armor, the Army is speeding new Stryker upgrades to the field, including an EFP protection kit and ballistic shields that will go around the hatches instead of sandbags. Those empty water bottles, on the other hand, will have to be recycled.
-- Nathan Hodge
