In message , Chad Irby
writes
In article ,
"Paul J. Adam" wrote:
How difficult do you believe it is to fill the fusewell of an artillery
shell with plastic explosive and insert a detonator linked to (for
example) a garage door-opener receiver?

Much more difficult and risky to your own hide than the example I gave:

Much less effective, though.

Making an RPG into an IED is much, much easier (a piece of
string tied to the trigger), and they have a *lot* of those.

...and somewhat more difficult than taking one of a whole lot of
leftover blocks of plastic explosive and sticking a detonator into it.

No fragmentation, though that's not hard to fix. On the other hand if
you've *got* shells... you have explosive and fragments pre-made and
just need the new fuze.

However, an RPG's warhead is measured in ounces and has a relatively
poor fragmentation effect: artillery shells have payloads of pounds and
are *designed* for area fragmentation.

But are very bad for portability and pretty much useless against
anything except soft targets

"Soft targets" like trucks, foot patrols, HMMWVs and the like. Most of
the troops, aid workers, local police and contractors in Iraq aren't
mounted in armoured vehicles.

So, again, what's your estimate of the number of IEDs found to date?

A couple of thousand, from what I've read.

Thank you (seriously). Are you still saying less than a "few dozen"
involved artillery shells?

--
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Julius Caesar I:2

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk