Introduction
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) remain a persistent threat in asymmetric warfare, but their danger is increasing as new technologies become widely accessible. Since 2023, non-state actors have integrated commercial tools such as drones, artificial intelligence (AI), and 3D printing into IED design and deployment, enhancing range, precision, and concealment. UAV-borne IEDs, radio-controlled triggers, and hybrid VBIED–PBIED attacks are now common across conflict zones in West Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and beyond. These developments raise the risk of IED use spreading into dense urban environments and against critical infrastructure, including transport and energy systems. Drawing on recent UN and security assessments, this article analyses emerging IED trends and argues for intelligence-led, preventive countermeasures, tighter regulation of dual-use technologies, and strengthened international cooperation.
Historical Context and Evolution
IEDs began in World War II as tools of guerrilla warfare but became widely known in the 1990s through urban bombings by groups like the Provisional IRA. After 9/11, they became the main weapon of insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. By the 2010s, ISIS added military-grade parts and anti-tamper features, making IEDs more deadly and harder to defuse.
Since 2023, IED use has diversified further. Armed groups in West Africa, such as Boko Haram, JNIM, and ISWAP, have moved toward VBIEDs and drone-assisted attacks, with the UN reporting more UAV-IED strikes on peacekeepers in the DRC. In Ukraine, IEDs are being combined with unmanned ground vehicles. Easy access to commercial components allows fast and low-cost construction. Rising IED-related court cases in the United States in 2024 also point to growing risks from online radicalization and lone-actor threats.
Emerging Tactics and Techniques
Modern IEDs combine simple materials with new and effective methods. Armed groups now use hybrid attacks, where suicide vehicle bombs are first used to break security barriers, followed by suicide attackers on foot. Such tactics have been seen in ISIS operations.
Concealment and deception are common, with IEDs hidden as stones, scrap, or everyday items to avoid suspicion. Uncrewed systems, especially commercial drones, are used for surveillance, dropping explosives, or carrying out targeted attacks, as seen in ISWAP drone strikes on Nigerian military bases during 2024–2025.
There have also been advances in detonation methods, including radio-controlled, victim-activated, and wireless triggers that are harder to block. Groups coordinate attacks using encrypted messaging, live surveillance feeds, and sometimes basic cyber techniques like GPS interference.
These methods take advantage of security weaknesses and highlight the need for layered defenses, including alert communities, better coordination, and technology-assisted monitoring.
The Indian Context
In India, IED threats are closely linked to local insurgencies. Maoist groups in Left-Wing Extremism areas, such as Chhattisgarh, mainly use low-metal pressure-plate and command-wire IEDs placed on forest paths to target security forces. In Jammu and Kashmir, militants have used radio-controlled devices and tried VBIED attacks against patrols, often using encrypted apps for coordination. In cities, IEDs are sometimes hidden in everyday objects to avoid suspicion.
India faces several challenges in dealing with these threats. Difficult terrain, uneven access to modern technology among security forces, poor sharing of intelligence, and mostly reactive responses reduce effectiveness. These realities highlight the need for area-specific counter-IED strategies and stronger coordination between agencies.
Technological Advancements
Key technological changes in IEDs include:
- Sensor-based and wireless triggers, such as remote or Wi-Fi-based detonation, which allow attackers to explode devices from a distance.
- 3D printing, which is used to make custom parts like casings and triggers using designs found online.
- Drone and unmanned ground vehicle delivery, with short-range commercial drones most commonly used by terrorist groups.
- Early use of AI, mainly through chatbots for planning, communication, and online radicalization. More advanced AI for precise targeting remains limited among non-state actors as of 2026.
The spread of dual-use technologies—civilian tools that can also be misused—has made IEDs easier to build. This highlights the need for better control of precursor materials and stronger monitoring of supply chains.
Future Threat Horizons
IED threats are likely to increase as new technologies spread quickly and make attacks easier to carry out. Drones are likely to proliferate in urban centres and Western countries for reconnaissance and precision strikes. The convergence of IEDs with cyber intrusions could disrupt critical infrastructure such as power grids, water systems, and transport networks. AI may accelerate the online dissemination of bomb designs and attack planning. Expanding megacities provide concealment opportunities by embedding IEDs in everyday objects. State or quasi-state actors may covertly enable IED use in proxy conflicts. Countering this trajectory requires layered security architectures, international regulation of dual-use technologies, and proactive, intelligence-led disruption of threats at an early stage.
Implications and Policy Recommendations
An integrated strategy is essential:
- Use better detection tools, like sensors with AI to spot threats, strong jammers to block signals, and directed-energy weapons to stop drones.
- Control dangerous everyday items (drones, 3D printers, chemicals used in bombs) with strict export rules and close tracking of who buys them.
- Train police, soldiers, and peacekeepers better: use real-life practice drills that show how attackers mix car bombs and suicide vests in the same attack.
- Work together more: follow UN decisions, share information through databases like UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) and CTC (Combating Terrorism Center), and combine intelligence from different countries and agencies.
- Build smarter systems to predict attacks: watch people’s online behavior, monitor websites and chats, and stop the flow of money and equipment to terrorists.
- Fix the deeper problems: reduce poverty and inequality, improve governance in backward and underdeveloped areas, create jobs and education, and stop online radicalization before it turns people violent.
These steps together can help stop the new kinds of IED attacks before they happen.
Conclusion
IEDs are no longer simple weapons made from basic materials; they have evolved into complex threats driven by modern technology, global connectivity, and adaptive tactics. The growing use of drones, wireless triggers, AI tools, and commercially available components has increased the reach, precision, and concealment of IED attacks, with risks extending from conflict zones to urban centres and critical infrastructure worldwide. Experiences from regions such as West Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and India show that reactive responses are no longer sufficient. Addressing these new vistas of IED threats requires intelligence-led prevention, tighter control of dual-use technologies, strong inter-agency and international cooperation, and community awareness. Only a layered, forward-looking approach that combines security, technology regulation, and social measures can effectively reduce the evolving danger posed by IEDs.
References
- Action on Armed Violence (AOAV). Explosive Violence Monitor 2024. May 2025. https://aoav.org.uk/2025/explosive-violence-monitor-2024
- Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. “Investigating Terrorist Use of Improvised Explosive Devices in the United States: Evidence from US Federal Court Cases, 2009–2024.” Perspectives on Terrorism, 2025.
- United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). Annual Report 2024. 2025. https://www.unmas.org/sites/default/files/publications/unmas_2024_annual_report_fin_1.pdf
- Rassler, Don, and Yannick Veilleux-Lepage. “On the Horizon: The Ukraine War and the Evolving Threat of Drone Terrorism.” CTC Sentinel, Vol. 18, Issue 3 (March 2025). https://ctc.westpoint.edu/on-the-horizon-the-ukraine-war-and-the-evolving-threat-of-drone-terrorism
