Hi-tech sensors to trace Osama

NEW YORK, NOV. 23. American forces seeking the hide-outs of Osama bin Laden are being equipped with sophisticated new technology - an array of sensors - that can pierce darkness, bad weather and as much as 100 feet of solid rock, homing in on heat, magnetic fields, vibrations and other faint cues.

The devices, borne by aircraft, towed behind vehicles or carried by soldiers, can sense slight traces of heat on a cold mountainside, the hum of a buried generator, the magnetic signals from electrical wires. Some of the sensors did not exist just a decade ago, while others have had their accuracy greatly improved in recent years by the same digital revolution that has drastically increased the power of video recorders and computers. The devices were described by Government officials and scientists who spoke on the condition of anonymity because many aspects of the technologies are classified.

The sophisticated surveillance equipment could be particularly valuable, Government officials say, now that the fast-moving military campaign in Afghanistan has forced leaders of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to shun radios and mobile phones, which had been routinely intercepted by electronic sensors on American spy planes.

As it happens, the heat-sensing devices will work with increasing efficiency as cold weather tightens its grip in the region. Scientists who helped develop the equipment say the slightest hint of warm air escaping from a tunnel or cave will stand out like a beacon from miles away. ``As it gets colder, the caves are going to stay warm,'' a scientist said. ``Openings that release that air are going to be seen as a hot spot.'' Some heat-sensing devices used on American warplanes, unmanned spy planes and scouting vehicles can discern variations in temperature as far as 50 km away, at a resolution fine enough to reveal a parked vehicle in total darkness.

Lightweight versions of the same kind of device sit atop the gun barrels of rifles and heavy machine guns, allowing marksmen, in dust or darkness, to spot a person a 2.5 km away and a car 6.5 km away. The latest versions not only can detect infrared light emanating from a warm object, but can also decipher details of the chemical composition of the target from telltale wiggles in the emitted spectrum.

Because of great advances in computer power, ``we can analyse the atmospherics around something, which helps you know what you are really seeing,'' said Mr. Mike Johnson, a retired rear admiral who is the new president of Recon/Optical, a company based in Barrington, Illinois, that makes some of the world's most advanced heat-sensing equipment.

For example, the devices can identify the breath of a soldier or pollutants in the exhaust from a tank. Scanners developed by the Government can detect extremely weak magnetic fields generated by metal equipment stashed in a tunnel up to 100 feet underground. Similar equipment can pick up faint fields from wiring, such as the cables providing lighting to tunnel networks used by Al- Qaeda.

- New York Times

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Bonn conclave may yield little
Next     : Pak. alleges unprovoked firing