Facing IED threats, Army patrols now armed with jammers

After a number of blasts triggered by Pakistani army and militants using remote control devices, Indian troops have been equipped with portable jammers for protection as they patrol the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

It is now a part of the drill that one of the jawans of the patrol team will carry the jammer for disarming any remote-controlled Improvised Explosive Devices.

Weighing around 80 kgs along with batteries, the machine can jam any frequency in a radius of 50 meters during mobile patrolling, according to the operator of Jammer.

Wearing one such machine on his back and armed with digital tools, Sepoy Surinder Singh (name changed) said, “Jammers are now part of the patrolling or any operation, be it anti-infiltration or anything else along LoC.” 

The jawan, while trekking in a mountainous area somewhere in the Noushera sector, tells a group of visiting media persons that, “It is a security measure against RC (remote- controlled) IEDs attacks along the LoC.”  The jammers have been inducted to ensure safety of the soldiers during patrolling on the LoC as there have been a series of blasts of IEDs triggered by the enemy.

The jammer has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the army. It has been indigenously designed and developed by the Electronic Counter measure Systems for protection of VVIPs and Security convoys from the threat of radio controlled bombs often called IEDs.

The Protection System radiates high power electromagnetic signals and prevents the detonation of radio controlled bombs and IEDs, officials said.

The machine is a portable integrated compact communication system developed for various users in different configurations.

It covers HF, VHF & UHF ranges and available in cluster configuration for Army use or in suite configuration for Navy s ground as well as onboard usage. “It has full capability to detect, locate and jam frequency agile communications as well as monitoring & recording of conventional signals. These IED jammers are to be put to use for service deployment and operational usage for quick reaction teams, VIP protection vehicles, convoy escorts, movement of troops and counter insurgency operations,” officials said while giving details about the risks encountered by the soldiers. 

“The deployment of jammers has become important in view of increasing threat to security personnel who are being targeted by IEDs, detonated by cell phones and radio signals along LoC in hinterlands,” the officials said.