IED (Improvised Explosive Device)

An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed outside conventional military supply chains, often using commercial explosives, military ordnance, fertilizer-based mixtures, or repurposed munitions combined with a triggering mechanism. IEDs may be victim-activated (pressure plates, tripwires), command-detonated (wire, radio, or cell phone), or timed. Delivery methods include roadside emplacement, vehicle-borne IEDs (VBIEDs), person-borne IEDs (PBIEDs or suicide vests), and increasingly drone-dropped munitions.

IEDs became the defining tactical weapon of the post-2001 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they accounted for the majority of coalition combat casualties. In response, the United States established the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) in 2006, later reorganized as the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization (JIDO) in 2015 and folded into the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. NATO maintains a Counter-IED Centre of Excellence in Madrid.

Internationally, IEDs intersect with several legal frameworks. The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Amended Protocol II (1996) regulates mines, booby-traps, and "other devices," a category that captures many victim-activated IEDs. The International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997) criminalizes the use of explosive devices against public places. UN Security Council Resolution 2370 (2017) addressed terrorist acquisition of weapons, and the General Assembly has passed annual resolutions on countering the IED threat since 2015.

Civilian harm from IEDs is tracked by NGOs such as Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), which has consistently reported that explosive weapons in populated areas cause the overwhelming majority of casualties to civilians. IEDs have featured prominently in conflicts including Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Mali, Nigeria (Boko Haram), Colombia (FARC and ELN), and Ukraine. Counter-IED doctrine typically follows a three-pillar approach: attack the network, defeat the device, and train the force.