Air Force hosts anti-IED conference Published May 15, 2008 By Tech. Sgt. Joel Langton US Air Forces Central Public Affairs SOUTHWEST ASIA -- The battle against improvised explosive devices takes place on the streets of Iraq and Afghanistan everyday, but this week Coalition members took the fight into a conference room, tucked away on an air base in Southwest Asia. Arranged by the Combined Air and Space Operations Center's Combined Theater Electronic Warfare Coordination Cell, the conference put IED experts from Iraq and Afghanistan together with Mr. William Hughes, director of the Joint IED Defeat Test Board, members from the IED Test Board to exchange information during the two-day conference. "We're here to see if we're meeting the war fighters' needs," said Mr. Hughes. "Is the information we're providing helping them, is it in the right format, and is it helpful to them. Meetings like this are critical to that." Mr. Hughes' group decided to make the trip to Southwest Asia to make it easier on the war fighters. "We don't want them to have to come to us, our group came to them, in Southwest Asia, to make it as easy as possible for them." The test board is responsible for coordination and synchronization of all counter-IED testing and providing C-IED information to theater. Mr. Hughes said it has been a continual spy-vs.-spy episode, as coalition forces have found counter-measures against IEDs, enemy forces have responded by changing technology. Mr. Hughes, 58-years-old and wearing a pacemaker, has personally logged nearly 600 miles on convoys in Iraq, gathering information to help stop terrorists' deadliest weapon. IED's are one of the primary threats in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We take what we collect here and go back and try to refine what we're doing, to give our guys the best possible defense against IEDs."