Demining

From Freepedia

Image:Hydrema mine cleaning vehicle.jpg Demining is the process of removing landmines or naval mines from an area, which is usually done to enable military action in that area or for humanitarian reasons, as old minefields represent an important hazard to civilians. Currently, the only method that meets the United Nations' requirements for effective humanitarian demining is manual detection and disarmament [Demining Research]. This process is typically slow, expensive, and dangerous, but new technologies may provide effective alternatives.

It is estimated that US$1 billion per year would be sufficient to completely demine globally, but in 2000, only about US$400 million was donated (with about US$250 million from the United States). It takes one to two million US$ to clear a square kilometer of land in most environments. Often, clearing landmines is a necessary condition before other humanitarian programs can be implemented[Demining Research].

Contents

Detection methods

Manual detection

Image:Minenraeum anzug.jpg The first step in manual demining is to scan the area with metal detectors, which are sensitive enough to pick up most mines but which also yield about one thousand false positives for every mine[Demining Research]. Areas where metal is detected are carefully probed to determine if a mine is present, and must continue until the object that set off the metal detector is found. Technologies that improve safety include large, pillow-like pads strapped to the bottoms of shoes that distribute weight and dull the impact of footsteps, as very slight disturbances of the ground can tip off old, unstable, or intentionally sensitive mine triggers. Surprisingly, demining can be safer than construction work if procedures are followed rigorously[Demining Research].

Biological detection

Dogs

Well-trained dogs can sniff out explosive chemicals like TNT in landmines, and are used in several countries.[Demining Research]

Rodents

Recent experiments with the Gambian giant pouched rat have indicated that it has the required sensitivity to smell, can be trained reliably with food-reward incentives, and is typically too small to set off the mines.[Reuters]

Additionally, experiments with electrode-guided rats suggest that demining could one day be accomplished by guiding "ratbots" into areas that humans are unable to reach[BBC].

Plants

Image:Redandgreen1.JPG

The mustard Arabidopsis thaliana, one of the best studied plants in the world, normally turns red under harsh conditions, but using a combination of natural mutations and genetic manipulation scientists from Danish biotechnoloy company Aresa Biodetection, created a strain that only changes color in response to the nitrous oxide that leaks from landmines and other explosives. Because nitrous oxide can also be formed by denitrifying bacteria, there is some risk of false positives using this technique, and researchers are attempting to make the plant less sensitive. The plants would aid demining by indicating the presence of mines through color change, and could either be sown from airplanes or from people walking through demined corridors in minefields. As of February 2005, no studies have been conducted with actual landmines, though successful studies have been done in greenhouses. In order to prevent the spread of this genetically modified organism into the wild, the plants have been further modified so that they will only sprout when provided with an external growth factor.[ACF]

Bacteria

A bacterium has been genetically engineered to fluoresce under ultraviolet light in the presence of TNT. Tests involving spraying such bacteria over a simulated minefield successfullly located mines. In the field, this method could allow for searching hundreds of acres in a few hours, which is much faster than other techniques, and could be used on a variety of terrain types. While there are some false positives (especially near plants and water drainage), even three ounces of TNT were detectable using these bacteria. Unfortunately, there is no strain of bacteria capable of detecting RDX, another common explosive, and the bacteria may not be visible under desert conditions. Also, well-constructed munitions that have not had time to corrode may be undetectable using this method.[Burlage et. al]

Marine mammals

The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program uses sea lions and dolphins, among other species, in the detection of seamines[1].

Removal methods

Image:Spezialschuhe eines Minenraeumanzuges.jpg

  • Manually disarming them.
  • Carpeting the suspected minefield with an artillery barrage.
  • Driving a heavily armoured vehicle like a tank or bulldozer through a minefield to deliberately detonate the explosives. One of the more effective methods uses a flail—a set of long chains attached to a rotating drum held out on arms across the front of the tank—to beat the ground. During World War II, to counter the use of armored vehicles to clear mines, the Germans improvised anti-tank mines by burying an artillery shell deeper in the ground attached to a sensor some distance behind the shell, so that when the tank flail or dozer blade went over the sensor the shell exploded under the tank. Today, minefields are sometimes set with a mix of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. The flail method may only be 80% effective; often good enough for military demining, but well below the 99.6% standard set by the United Nations for humanitarian demining [Demining Research].
  • Using a Bangalore Torpedo to clear a path through a minefield. This can also be done using the Antipersonnel Obstacle Breaching System, a hose-pipe filled with explosives and carried across a minefield by a rocket.[2]
  • Cutting holes in the mine without detonating its contents [3]

References

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Demining.html"


Views
Personal tools
Similar Links