Battleland

Better Late Than Never

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MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

The good guys blow up an IED in Afghanistan's Paktika province

Improvised explosive devices have been the single biggest killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq – some 3,000 KIA — which is why the Pentagon has spent more than $20 billion trying to defeat them. Now the Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, as first reported by InsideDefense.com, is seeking ways to make commonly-available ammonium nitrate fertilizer, the basic explosive in most IEDs, less explosive.