Iraq's superbombs - made in Iraq?

Wired's "Danger Room" blog suggests that the "superbombs" we're seeing in Iraq are not necessarily of Iranian origin:

Where are Iraq's superbombs coming from, really? The Pentagon is claiming -- again -- the the Iranian government supplied the deadly "explosively formed penetrators" (EFPs). But the more you study these devices -- which use an explosive charge to a convert disc-shaped metal 'lens' into a high-velocity slug capable of smashing through thick armor at an extended range –- the more likely they seem to be home-made in Iraq.

It might be that their apparent sophistication has more to do with the flow of know-how than the leveraging of sophisticated manufacturing and design capacity:

It took years for the American military to learn how to make these weapons on the fly.  And yet insurgents in Iraq already have essentially the same capability. It's an example of what has elsewhere been called 'Intermediate Technology' which takes a lot of time and money to develop, but when it exists it can be quickly and cheaply copied.

WIRED Blogs: Danger Room

technorati tags:efps, superbombs, iraq, iran

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