Task Force ODIN: Drones, Copters Have Killed 2,400 Jihadists

If you are a jihadist in Iraq, there's one word you wish you'd never heard: ODIN. Aptly named after the Norse god, Task Force ODIN actually stands for: Observe-Detect-Identify-Neutralize. And neutralizing has been the order of this task force in the past year in the War in Iraq. Between drones, manned surveillance planes and helicopters...over 2,400 jihadists in Iraq have been "neutralized" in the past year.
It is a fascinating article, that you can read fully here from WiredBlogNetwork.

One of the key essentials of the task force has been:

By connecting together drones and copters and ground forces, the Army was able to attack insurgents with previously unheard-of speed and an efficiency.

It was the success of this task force in Iraq that pushed it's utilization in Afghanistan...so now the Taliban get to deal with ODIN. And that really warms my heart!

Drone, Copter Team Kills 2,400 Bombers in Iraq

The unit generally begins its work in the air, high enough for sensor-laden C-12s [reconnaissance planes] and UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] equipped with electro-optical/infrared cameras to remain undetected from the ground.
“Without these technologies, we might never see [the insurgents], because they often plant IEDs [improvised explosive devices] at night,” a senior Army official said. “With manned-unmanned teaming, Apache pilots are on alert while the UAVs find targets. It is crucial to remain undetected, because as soon as you show yourself, [insurgents] take off and get lost in the urban terrain. Now, we track them, follow them, and quietly process targets.”

OK, we've got a UAV overhead. It sees guys planting an IED, now what do you do? OK, well you have to be able to command and control: maybe attack helicopters, maybe ground forces, maybe armed UAVs, maybe F-16s. How do you tie all that together? ...We're really doing it here, in real detail. Three to five times a day that scenario is playing itself out, that one scenario right there.

This is the first time that an entire battalion-sized aviation task force was developed around the concept of using all non-standard material solutions to directly support ground forces in contact.