Counter IEDs Market Report 2013

This report will explore how the future of the global armoured vehicle market, and particularly the counter IED element of it, is likely to evolve during the period 2013 - 2023. The report is based on a survey of 190 senior executives and professionals within the armoured vehicle domain, which includes commercial and military (currently serving and retired) respondents. The analysis of the survey data has been supplemented with proprietary interviews and desktop research.

In Afghanistan, there were about 400 IED attacks a month in 2008. By 2010 this tripled to more than 1,300, according to the Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO). During 2011, the total number reported was 16,554.

Figure 3 highlights that 85% of survey respondents consider the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to be the critical threat to protect against over the next decade. However, the data in Figure 4, which is taken from last year’s Armoured Vehicle report, indicates that this threat has marginally decreased over the last 12 months – at the time 89% identified the IED as the key threat.

Is the IED really less of a threat now than it was a year ago? In one sense, yes.

In October Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said that the cost of the previously inexpensive explosive materials has spiralled over the last 12 months.

"An IED that last year cost insurgents $200 will now cost between $600 and $800 to build. This is indicative of a shortage of material," Bradshaw said.

As the cost of IEDs has increased four fold, the number of attacks is reported to have fallen by a third. While the physical threat of IEDs continues to present a troubling problem for armoured vehicle manufacturers, the mere fact that there are fewer of them being planted now than 12 months ago means that the risk of encountering them has decreased, which accounts for the dip in Figure 3.

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