Celebrating the best of military engineering: Counter-IED lecture and Churchill Medal awards

摘要

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is proud to support engineers serving in the armed forces around the globe. Recognising and celebrating expertise and achievements of military engineers in theatre, in July, the Institution hosted a lecture on Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices (CIEDs) and a presentation of the re-instated Churchill Medal. Improvised Explosive Devices have long been regarded as the enemy's weapon of choice, and for many years, soldiers in theatre have had to face this unseen enemy. It's not only in recent operations where the problem has occurred, but also prominently during the Northern Ireland campaign where a number of lives were claimed. In more recent times, due to the large deployment of IEDs in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the UK has been forced to re-calibrate its approach with the writing of a new doctrine while significant resources in terms of people, equipment and training have been mobilised. Sharing unclassified insights, the lecture set out the defence sector's approach to Counter-IED and its applications on operations.