Nordic Response (named Cold Response until 2023) is a military exercise hosted by Norway with other NATO and invited Partnership for Peace countries held every other year.
112-473: The first exercises was the largest military exercise in Norway in 2006. Around 10,000 soldiers from 11 nations participated. Several of the operations were along the coast in the borders between sea and land, and together with roads and populated areas. Surveillance, patrols, road control posts, vehicle inspection, control of air space, minesweeping , evacuation of civilians, and riot control were important part of
224-461: A C-130 Hercules .) The tanks used have generally been obsolete models that have been highly modified - some work under remote control, others have had the driver's station moved to the rear. In modern times, there has been little military interest in an updated equivalent of the Sherman Crab or Matilda Scorpion - a substantially unmodified tank still capable of combat. In battle, the modern preference
336-481: A M48 Patton main battle tank. The first of 24 Keilers was supplied to the German Army by Rheinmetall in 1997. However, tanks have the disadvantage of having the driver at the front, close to the flail and any explosions, and they can not go slow enough for effective mine clearance. Also, the weight of tanks makes them difficult to transport (by contrast, the 18-ton Hydrema 910 is light enough to be moved by air in
448-413: A metal detector , prodding instrument and tripwire feeler. Deminers clear an area of vegetation and then divide it into lanes. A deminer advances along a lane, swinging a metal detector close to the ground. When metal is detected, the deminer prods the object with a stick or stainless steel probe to determine whether it is a mine. If a mine is found, it must be deactivated. Although conventional demining
560-526: A Mark II version of the Scorpion was produced by removing the main gun, as that was thought to be unnecessary. Controls for the flail were moved into the turret so the flail operator could be moved inside the tank, taking the place of the gunner. Engine air filters were improved and unreliable components strengthened. Mark III and Mark IV Scorpions were later developed that were based on the M3 Grant . This larger tank
672-424: A battery-powered controller. Despite advances in mine detection technology, "mine detection boils down to rows of nervous people wearing blast-resistant clothing and creeping laboriously across a field, prodding the ground ahead to check for buried objects." Often, especially when the soil is hard, they unwittingly apply too much force and risk detonating a mine. Prodders have been developed that provide feedback on
784-410: A bee can fly 3–5 kilometres before returning to the hive. However, tests using lidar (a laser scanning technique) have been promising. Bees do not fly at night, in heavy rain or wind, or in temperatures below 4 °C (39 °F), but the performance of dogs is also limited under these conditions. So far, most tests have been conducted in dry conditions in open terrain, so the effect of vegetation
896-500: A defender's minefield during a large-scale assault. The modern equivalents are used both by armies and by non-military organisations engaged in humanitarian demining. Unlike their World War II predecessors, modern mine flails are not intended for use in combat areas; they are unarmed and only carry the armour necessary to protect the operator from mine explosions. Many modern mine-flail vehicles are intended only to destroy anti-personnel mines and receive significant damage if they encounter
1008-417: A detection probability of 97–99 percent and false positives of less than 1 percent. When targets were placed consisting of small amounts of 2.4-DNT mixed with sand, they detect vapor plumes from the source several meters away and follow them to the source. Bees make thousands of foraging flights per day, and over time high concentrations of bees occur over targets. The most challenging issue is tracking them when
1120-673: A few days in soil, but an impurity, 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT), lasts much longer and has a high vapor pressure. Thus, it is the primary target for chemical detection. However, the concentrations are very small, particularly in dry conditions. A reliable vapor detection system needs to detect 10 grams of 2,4-DNT per millilitre of air in very dry soil or 10 grams per millilitre in moist soil. Biological detectors are very effective, but some chemical sensors are being developed. Honey bees can be used to locate mines in two ways: passive sampling and active detection. In passive sampling, their mop-like hairs, which are electrostatically charged, collect
1232-569: A further £7,000. Unlike the Matilda Scorpion and Matilda Baron, the Crab's flail was powered by the main engine, the Sherman's transmission being modified to add a power takeoff and removing the need for an outside, auxiliary engine. The Crab's rotor carried 43 flails and was driven at 142 rpm by a driveshaft running down the right hand side of the tank. The addition of a gearbox was required to maintain
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#17328547185271344-504: A given area to a specified depth. As of 2017, antipersonnel mines are known to contaminate 61 states and suspected in another 10. The most heavily contaminated (with more than 100 square kilometres of minefield each) are Afghanistan , Angola , Azerbaijan , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Cambodia , Chad , Iraq , Thailand , Turkey , and Ukraine . Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty are required to clear all mines within 10 years of joining
1456-466: A given depth and make the land safe for human use. Specially trained dogs are also used to narrow down the search and verify that an area is cleared. Mechanical devices such as flails and excavators are sometimes used to clear mines. A great variety of methods for detecting landmines have been studied. These include electromagnetic methods, one of which ( ground penetrating radar ) has been employed in tandem with metal detectors. Acoustic methods can sense
1568-525: A gradient greater than 30% or on ground that is especially dry or boggy. A large number of rocks, greater than around 5 centimetres (2 in) in diameter, will also hamper flailing, as they will tend to shield mines from flail blows. This is a particular problem in Lebanon , so the United Nations mine clearing operations in the south of that country have barred the use of flails. Assessing flail effectiveness
1680-508: A horizontal, rapidly rotating rotor mounted on two arms in front of the vehicle. The rotor's rotation makes the flails spin wildly and violently pound the ground. The force of a flail strike above a buried mine mimics the weight of a person or vehicle and causes the mine to detonate, but in a safe manner that does little damage to the flails or the vehicle. The idea is commonly attributed to a South African soldier, Captain Abraham du Toit. A test rig
1792-565: A huge dust cloud when used in the desert that they obscured themselves from German gunners. The cloud also blinded the drivers; the crews had to resort to wearing their gas masks in order to breathe. Twenty-five Matilda Scorpions, operated by the 1st Army Tank Brigade 's 42nd Royal Tank Regiment and 44th Royal Tank Regiment , were available by October 1942 and took part in the Second Battle of El Alamein . German minefields around El Alamein contained around three million mines and had been named
1904-447: A landmine, a rock and soil. Unlike metal detectors, GPR devices can detect nonmetallic mine casings. However, radio waves have wavelengths that are comparable to the dimensions of landmines, so the images have low resolution. The wavelength can be varied; smaller wavelengths give better image quality but cannot penetrate as far into the soil. This tradeoff in performance depends on soil properties and other environmental factors as well as
2016-433: A large cost for non government, humanitarian organisations (an Aardvark Mine flail costs around $ 500,000 US.) They consume a lot of fuel, as a powerful engine is needed to drive the rotor if the flails are to strike the ground with enough force to be effective. Mine flails can be unreliable and require spare parts that are difficult to obtain in remote regions. This leads to high operating costs and possibly lengthy periods when
2128-522: A larger anti-tank mine . Mine flail vehicles that can cope with anti-tank mines tend to be larger, heavier, more cumbersome and more expensive to operate. Several designs, such as the Danish Hydrema 910 , are based on a truck chassis with an armoured cab and a flail mounted behind on what would otherwise be the cargo space. They are able to drive to the mined site like any other road vehicle. During flailing operations, they slowly drive in reverse over
2240-461: A lot. Methods that use collimators to narrow the beams are not suitable for demining because the collimators are heavy and high-power sources are required. The alternative is to use wide beams and deconvolve the signal using spatial filters. The medical industry has driven improvements in x-ray technology, so portable x-ray generators are available. In principle, the short wavelength would allow high-resolution images, but it may take too long because
2352-468: A major problem, and it was proposed that the surviving Crabs should have their flail equipment removed and be converted back to regular Shermans - an idea that was bitterly resented by the Crab crews, who considered themselves to be a highly trained elite. In the end, this never occurred, and the Crabs spent the last part of the war clearing old minefields behind Allied lines. The Sherman Crab saw limited use by
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#17328547185272464-426: A mine field so it is more acceptable if some mines are missed in the process. Humanitarian demining aims to reduce risk for deminers and civilians as much as possible by removing (ideally) all landmines and demining work can usually be temporarily halted if unfavorable circumstances arise. In some situations, it is a necessary precondition for other humanitarian programs. Normally, a national mine action authority (NMAA)
2576-424: A normal Sherman. Great attention was paid to marking the cleared path through the mine field. Crabs carried a pair of bins filled with powdered chalk that slowly trickled out to mark the edges of the safe route. They were also equipped with a hopper that periodically dropped smoke grenade markers and a system that automatically fired illuminated poles into the ground at intervals. A pair of lit masts were mounted at
2688-411: A receiver coil, and the resulting changes in electric potential can be used to detect metal objects. Similar devices are used by hobbyists. Nearly all mines contain enough metal to be detectable. No detector finds all mines, and the performance depends on factors such as the soil, type of mine and depth of burial. An international study in 2001 found that the most effective detector found 91 percent of
2800-434: A result, the soil overhead tends to heat faster during the day and cool faster at night. Thermography uses infrared sensors to detect anomalies in the heating and cooling cycle. The effect can be enhanced using a heat source. The act of burying a mine also affects the soil properties, with small particles tending to collect near the surface. This tends to suppress the frequency-dependent characteristics that are evident in
2912-458: A rotor, mounted on two arms, roughly 6 feet (1.8 m) in front of the tank. The rotor carried 24 flails and was driven at 100 rpm by a 105-horsepower (78 kW) Ford V8 engine. This second engine was fitted in an armoured box mounted on the right side of the tank, the outside box included space for a crewman who operated the device. Although the mine sweeping process was slow, the Scorpions raised such
3024-402: A safe path for troops and equipment. The soldiers who carry out this task are known as combat engineers , sappers , or pioneers . Sometimes soldiers may bypass a minefield, but some bypasses are designed to concentrate advancing troops into a killing zone. If engineers need to clear a path (an operation known as breaching ), they may be under heavy fire and need supporting fire to suppress
3136-491: A self-contained device with its own engine, that could be pushed ahead of any tank that was available. However, the consensus of opinion favored special-purpose tanks with a permanently mounted flail system and he returned to South Africa in 1943. In 1948, du Toit would receive an award of £13,000 from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors for his work on the flail. Nine others (including four South Africans) would share
3248-604: A total of 27 nations and approximately 30,000 troops are signed up for the exercise. According to a Norwegian Joint Headquarters spokesman, this is 5,000 fewer troops than expected due to the concurrent Russian invasion of Ukraine . 4—15 March In 2024, the exercise was renamed Nordic Response , reflecting the NATO accession of Finland and Sweden . NATO initiated the Nordic Response 2024 exercise with over 20,000 troops from 13 nations, including Finland, Norway and Sweden. The drill
3360-496: A variety of particles including chemicals leaking from explosives. The chemicals are also present in water that they bring back and air that they breathe. Methods such as solid phase microextraction , sorbent sol-gels , gas chromatography and mass spectrometry can be used to identify explosive chemicals in the hive. Honey bees can also be trained, in 1–2 days, to associate the smell of an explosive with food. In field trials, they detected concentrations of parts per trillion with
3472-498: Is a dangerous activity, and personal protective equipment does not protect against all types of landmine. Once found, mines are generally defused or blown up with more explosives, but it is possible to destroy them with certain chemicals or extreme heat without making them explode. Land mines overlap with other categories of explosive devices, including unexploded ordnance (UXOs), booby traps and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). In particular, most mines are factory-built, but
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3584-456: Is a large uncertainty in the total number and the area affected. Records by armed forces are often incomplete or nonexistent, and many mines were dropped by airplane. Various natural events such as floods can move mines around and new mines continue to be laid. When minefields are cleared, the actual number of mines tends to be far smaller than the initial estimate; for example, early estimates for Mozambique were several million, but after most of
3696-584: Is a smaller, four ton, remote-controlled vehicle that is more easily moved to remote or inaccessible locations and may be used in more confined areas. Tanks are still used to carry flails; examples include the Norwegian Army 's Leopard AMCV – a Leopard tank that was modified by Hagglunds to carry an Aardvark flail system. The German Army is equipped with the Keiler Minenräumpanzer Keiler (mine clearing tank " wild boar "), based on
3808-405: Is an accident for every 1000–2000 mines cleared. 35 percent of the accidents occur during mine excavation and 24 percent result from missed mines. Mine layers often use anti-demining techniques, including anti-lift devices, booby traps and two or three mines placed on top of each other. Anti-personnel mines are often triggered by tripwires. In World War II , the primary method of locating mines
3920-463: Is between $ 300 and $ 1000. However, such estimates may be misleading. The cost of clearance can vary considerably since it depends on the terrain, the ground cover (dense foliage makes it more difficult) and the method; and some areas that are checked for mines turn out to have none. Although the Mine Ban Treaty gives each state the primary responsibility to clear its own mines, other states that can help are required to do so. In 2016, 31 donors (led by
4032-574: Is conducted in Arctic conditions. Two Norwegian soldiers from the Telemark Battalion died when a Leopard 2 tank went through the ice in 2006. A Royal Norwegian Air Force C-130 Hercules crashed during the exercise in the north of Sweden on 15 March 2012 where all five on board were killed. A United States Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey aircraft crashed in Beiarn Municipality during
4144-433: Is difficult, as it is hard to distinguish between a mine that has been missed by the flail and an aged, malfunctioning mine that has been struck but has failed to detonate. To be sure which is the case, it would be necessary to disassemble the mine and examine its fuze - a lengthy and dangerous procedure that is hardly ever carried out in the field. Because of this, all apparently intact mines are reported as being 'missed' by
4256-524: Is given the primary responsibility for mine action, which it manages through a mine action center (MAC). This coordinates the efforts of other players including government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), commercial companies, and militaries. The International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) provide a framework for mine action. While not legally binding in themselves, they are intended as guidelines for countries to develop their own standards. The IMAS also draw on international treaties including
4368-786: Is needed in the country where the dog is deployed to accustom the dog to its handler, the soil and climate, and the type of explosives. MDDs were first deployed in WWII. They have been extensively used in Afghanistan, which still has one of the largest programs. Over 900 are used in 24 countries. Their preferred role is for verifying that an area is cleared and narrowing down the region to be searched. They are also used in Remote Explosive Scent Tracing (REST). This involves collecting air samples from stretches of land about 100 meters long and having dogs or rats sniff them to determine whether
4480-646: Is not known. Tests have commenced in real minefields in Croatia and the results are promising, although after about three days the bees must be retrained because they are not getting food rewards from the mines. Like dogs, giant pouched rats are being trained to sniff out chemicals like TNT in landmines. A Belgian NGO, APOPO , trains rats in Tanzania at a cost of $ 6000 per rat. These rats, nicknamed " HeroRATS ", have been deployed in Mozambique and Cambodia. APOPO credits
4592-602: Is not widely used for demining. GPR can be used with a metal detector and data-fusion algorithms to greatly reduce the false alarms generated by metallic clutter. One such dual-sensor device, the Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS) became the standard mine detector of the U.S. Army in 2006. For humanitarian demining, it was tested in Cambodia for a variety of soil conditions and mine types, detecting 5,610 mines and correctly identifying 96.5% of
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4704-558: Is referred to as a disruptive strike and still renders the mine harmless, but the ground is contaminated with metal debris and undetonated explosive material. This makes it harder to carry out the necessary manual check of the area after the flail had finished, either with metal detectors or explosive sniffer dogs . There were also anecdotes of mine flails flinging live mines out of the mine field and into safe areas. An experiment with inert mine-analogues demonstrated that this could happen; some mines were thrown over 10 metres (33 ft) by
4816-497: Is sifted and inspected. It can also be fed through an industrial rock crusher, which is robust enough to withstand blasts from antipersonnel mines. Excavation is a reliable way of clearing an area to a depth that other mechanical systems cannot reach, and it has been used in several countries. In particular, the HALO Trust estimates that their excavation program destroys mines about 7 times faster than manual deminers. A 2004 study by
4928-469: Is slow (5–150 square metres cleared per day), it is reliable, so it is still the most commonly used method. Integration with other methods such as explosive sniffing dogs can increase its reliability. Demining is a dangerous occupation. If a deminer prods a mine too hard or fails to detect it, the deminer can suffer injury or death, and the large number of false positives from metal detectors can make deminers tired and careless. According to one report, there
5040-422: Is supplemented by technical survey , where potentially hazardous areas are physically explored to improve knowledge of their boundaries. A good survey can greatly reduce the time required to clear an area; in one study of 15 countries, less than 3 percent of the area cleared actually contained mines. By one United Nations estimate, the cost to produce a landmine is between $ 3 and $ 75 while the cost of removing it
5152-591: Is to detonate mines with explosive devices ( mine-clearing line charges ), such as the Antipersonnel Obstacle Breaching System or the Giant Viper . During the Gulf War , the U.S. 2nd Marine Division made an attempt to breach an Iraqi mine field with a mine flail mounted on an armored bulldozer . But the flail was destroyed and the bulldozer crippled by an Iraqi anti-tank mine. Mine flails have
5264-568: Is too high a density of mines. The detection rate is also variable, so the International Mine Action Standards require an area to be covered by two dogs before it can be declared safe. Preferred breeds for MDDs are the German Shepherd and Belgian Malinois , although some Labrador Retrievers and Beagles are used. They cost about $ 10,000 each to train. This cost includes 8–10 weeks of initial training. Another 8–10 weeks
5376-404: Is well developed and the main challenge is to process and interpret the images. The algorithms are underdeveloped and have trouble coping with the extreme dependence of performance on environmental conditions. Many of the surface effects are strongest just after the mine is buried and are soon removed by weathering. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) maps out the electrical conductivity of
5488-593: The Devil's gardens by the German commander, Erwin Rommel . Breaching these minefields was vital to the Allied battleplan. During the battle, the Scorpions were less successful than hoped. While reasonably effective at mine clearing, the hastily developed flail system was unreliable and broke down frequently. Also, there were frequent engine failures, as the air filters were overwhelmed by
5600-524: The 79th Armoured Division 's 30th Armoured Brigade ; in Italy, they were operated by the 51st Royal Tank Regiment . A flail squadron of the Royal Armoured Corps, as established on 29 March 1944, comprised seven ordinary Shermans (squadron HQ and a four-tank pilot troop) and four troops of four flail-equipped tanks. In July 1944, the new establishment removed the pilot troop and one of the flail troops; on
5712-581: The Casspir , serve a similar purpose. However, those used in humanitarian demining cannot withstand the blast from an anti-tank mine, so their use must be preceded by careful surveying. Unlike flails and tillers, they only destroy functioning mines, and even those do not always explode. Excavation, the removal of soil to a given depth, is done using modified construction vehicles such as bulldozers , excavators , front-end loaders , tractors and soil sifters. Armor plates and reinforced glass are added. Removed soil
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#17328547185275824-541: The Caterpillar D9 (Israel). Improvised techniques are sometimes used by people who need the use of land before formal demining. In parts of Ukraine mined during fighting associated with the Russian invasion that started in 2022, farmers who need to use the land improvised a mine-clearing machine by welding parts of rugged abandoned Russian fighting vehicles such as tanks on to an old tractor and harrow, remotely controlled by
5936-465: The Matilda Baron . The Baron's problem was that, like the Scorpion, the rotor was powered by external, auxiliary engines that made it too wide to cross a Bailey bridge and which had to be removed if it was to be transported by rail. Curran Brothers of Cardiff constructed 60 Barons, but they were only used for demonstrations and training. A number of experimental flail tanks were produced, including
6048-534: The Mine Ban Treaty , which has provisions for destroying stockpiles and clearing minefields. In the 1990s, before the IMAS, the United Nations required that deminers had to clear 99.6% of all mines and explosive ordnance. However, professional deminers found that unacceptably lax because they would be responsible if any mines later harmed civilians. In contrast, the IMAS call for the clearance of all mines and UXOs from
6160-415: The Second Battle of El Alamein . Although metal detectors have become much lighter, more sensitive and easier to operate than the early models, the basic principle is still electromagnetic induction . Current through a wire coil produces a time-varying magnetic field that in turn induces currents in conductive objects in the ground. In turn, these currents generate a magnetic field that induces currents in
6272-678: The Valentine Scorpion , based on the Valentine tank and several designs based on the M4 Sherman – the Sherman Mark IV and Mark V Scorpions and the "Sherman Lobster". Eventually one of these, the Sherman Crab , went into full production at the request of Major General Hobart and saw active service. Du Toit himself had become a strong advocate of a concept called the perambulator mine flail -
6384-1044: The American army; the Crab Mark 1 was designated the Mine Exploder T3 Flail and the Crab Mark II the Mine Exploder T4 . The flail idea was also copied by the Japanese, who produced a prototype known as the Type 97 Chi-Yu that was based on a Type 97 Chi-Ha tank. In the 1950s, the British Army used heavily armoured Churchill tanks fitted with flails - this was the Churchill Flail FV3902 or Toad . Mine flails continue to be used, although their role has changed. During World War II, they were used in combat to clear paths through
6496-479: The Crab, developed as "Contouring Crab", switched to a counterweighted jib that naturally assumed the right height in balance to the force exerted by the rotating flail. This ensured mines buried under a dip in the ground would not be missed. A blast shield between the flail and the tank gave added protection from detonating mines. The hull machine gun was removed, as the blast shield and flail blocked its field of fire. The Crab weighed 32 tons - around two tons more than
6608-581: The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining concluded that the data on the performance of mechanical demining systems was poor, and perhaps as a result, they were not being used as the primary clearance system (with the exception of excavators). However, by 2014, confidence in these systems had increased to the point where some deminers were using them as primary clearance systems. Mechanical demining techniques have some challenges. In steep, undulating terrain they may skip over some of
6720-459: The Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, United States, Finland, Spain, Denmark and Canada also took part. Following an earthquake in a fictional nation called Asando , an armed conflict by extremists and separation-groups against government forces erupts. The security council approves a resolution to allow NATO to take control of the situation. A peacekeeping force was assigned to help settle
6832-602: The United States with $ 152.1 million and the European Union with $ 73.8 million) contributed a total of $ 479.5 million to mine action , of which $ 343.2 million went to clearance and risk education. The top 5 recipient states (Iraq, Afghanistan, Croatia , Cambodia and Laos ) received 54% of this support. The conventional method of landmine detection was developed in World War II and has changed little since then. It involves
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#17328547185276944-475: The advantage of being able to clear most mines from an area comparatively rapidly - the manufacturer of the British Aardvark Mark 4 quotes a maximum rate of 3,000 square metres (0.74 acres) per hour, however 600 square metres (0.15 acres) per hour is more usual. Also, flails do not place their operators at significant risk, unlike manual demining. However they have come under criticism. They represent
7056-485: The amount of force. Universities, corporations and government bodies have been developing a great variety of methods for detecting mines. However, it is difficult to compare their performance. One quantitative measure is a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, which measures the tradeoff between false positives and false negatives. Ideally, there should be a high probability of detection with few false positives, but such curves have not been obtained for most of
7168-507: The area needs clearing. Mechanical demining makes use of vehicles with devices such as tillers, flails , rollers , and excavation. Used for military operations as far back as World War I , they were initially "cumbersome, unreliable and under-powered", but have been improved with additional armor, safer cabin designs, reliable power trains , Global Positioning System logging systems and remote control . They are now primarily used in humanitarian demining for technical surveys, to prepare
7280-532: The back for station-keeping when several Crabs were flailing together in echelon. Dust clouds reduced visibility to a minimum, and careful control was essential to make sure the tanks' paths did not drift apart, leaving an uncleared strip of ground between them. In north-west Europe, Crabs were operated by the Lothians and Border Horse , the 22nd Dragoons and the Westminster Dragoons , all of whom were part of
7392-429: The best chemical detectors. Well-trained mine-detection dogs (MDDs) can sniff out explosive chemicals like TNT , monofilament lines used in tripwires , and metallic wire used in booby traps and mines. The area they can clear ranges from a few hundred to a thousand meters per day, depending on several factors. In particular, an unfavorable climate or thick vegetation can impede them, and they can get confused if there
7504-579: The casualties were suffered by civilians (42% by children), 20% by military and security personnel and 2% by deminers. There are two main categories of land mine: anti-tank and anti-personnel . Anti-tank mines are designed to damage tanks or other vehicles; they are usually larger and require at least 100 kilograms (220 lb) of force to trigger, so infantry will not set them off. Anti-personnel mines are designed to maim or kill soldiers. There are over 350 types, but they come in two main groups: blast and fragmentation . Blast mines are buried close to
7616-473: The cavity created by mine casings. Sensors have been developed to detect vapor leaking from landmines. Animals such as rats and mongooses can safely move over a minefield and detect mines, and animals can also be used to screen air samples over potential minefields. Bees, plants, and bacteria are also potentially useful. Explosives in landmines can also be detected directly using nuclear quadrupole resonance and neutron probes . Detection and removal of landmines
7728-472: The clearing had been done only 140,000 mines had been found. Thus, it may be more accurate to say that there are millions of landmines, not tens of millions. Before minefields can be cleared, they need to be located. This begins with non-technical survey , gathering records of mine placement and accidents from mines, interviewing former combatants and locals, noting locations of warning signs and unused agricultural land, and going to look at possible sites. This
7840-651: The clutter. Another dual detector developed by ERA Technology , the Cobham VMR3 Minehound, had similar success in Bosnia, Cambodia and Angola. These dual-sensor devices are relatively light and cheap, and the HALO Trust has begun to deploy more of them around the world. Soil absorbs radiation from the Sun and is heated, with a resulting change in the infrared radiation that it emits. Landmines are better insulators than soil. As
7952-519: The conflict. The military exercises were held through 16-25 March. The military exercises were from 17 February - 4 March, with up to 9,000 troops from 14 participating nations. 12–21 March, with over 16,000 troops from 15 participating nations. 7–22 March, with over 16,000 troops from 16 participating nations. 29 February through 11 March, with over 15,000 troops from 12 participating nations. 2-18 March, with some 16,000 troops from 10 participation nations. Stopped and canceled on 11 March due to
8064-424: The correct flail speed when the tank was traveling slower, such as while climbing. An innovation was the addition of cutters to the rotor that cut barbed wire and stopped the flail from becoming tangled. This feature made the Crab very effective at tearing up barbed wire obstacles . In the initial Crab design, the flail arms were raised and lowered hydraulically to set the height of the flail. The Mark II version of
8176-482: The definition of landmine can include "artisanal" (improvised) mines. Thus, the United Nations Mine Action Service includes mitigation of IEDs in its mission. Injuries from IEDs are much more serious, but factory-built landmines are longer lasting and often more plentiful. Over 1999–2016, yearly casualties from landmines and unexploded ordnance have varied between 9,228 and 3,450. In 2016, 78% of
8288-410: The electrodes must be planted in the ground, which risks setting off a mine, and it can only detect mines near the surface. In X-ray backscatter , an area is irradiated with X-rays (photons with wavelengths between 0.01 and 10 nanometres ) and detecting the photons that are reflected back. Metals strongly absorb x-rays and little is reflected back, while organic materials absorb little and reflect
8400-443: The enemy or obscure the site with smoke . Some risk of casualties is accepted, but engineers under heavy fire may need to clear an obstacle in 7–10 minutes to avoid excessive casualties, so manual breaching may be too slow. They may need to operate in bad weather or at night. Good intelligence is needed on factors like the locations of minefields, types of mines and how they were laid, their density and pattern, ground conditions and
8512-414: The exercise on 18 March 2022. All 4 crew members were killed. Demining Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By contrast, the goal of humanitarian demining is to remove all of the landmines to
8624-796: The exercise. Among the participants were the Norwegian Telemark Battalion , a thousand soldiers from the Norwegian Home Guard , the Royal Norwegian Air Force 's 339 Squadron and 720 Squadron , and most of the Royal Norwegian Navy 's available forces. About 3,000 soldiers from the British 3 Commando Brigade , completed their annual winter training by taking part in the exercise. 800 French mountain special forces, and 2,000 Swedish soldiers along with smaller units from
8736-432: The flail and it has been suggested that this leads to an under-reporting of the mine flail's clearance reliability. Experience in Afghanistan suggests that, despite the disadvantages, mine flailing can, in certain circumstances, be a valuable step in a multi-stage demining process. They remove most mines, but the area must still be checked manually. This is made easier by the fact that the flails strip most vegetation from
8848-658: The flail and, in one case, 65 metres (213 ft). An additional problem is the vulnerability of some current mine flail vehicles to anti-tank mines. This means that, if the presence of anti-tank mines is suspected, the minefield must, paradoxically, be manually checked first to make it safe for the mine flail. These problems have led many humanitarian demining organisations to abandon the use of flails. The clearance rate of mine flails can approach 100%, although rates as low as 50%-60% have been reported. Effective clearance requires both suitable conditions and experienced flail operators. Current mine flails do not operate effectively on
8960-408: The flailing tanks if it was disabled. The Crab had disadvantages; flailing did not remove all mines. A Teller mine buried up to 5 inches (13 cm) deep would be set off, but the resulting explosion would destroy a single flail chain, which would have to be replaced at some point. The Crab could only move at 1.25 miles per hour (2 km/h) when flailing, and the gun had to point to the rear, so
9072-484: The flails are out of service. It is known that flails do not reliably detonate all the mines in the area being swept, leaving it potentially hazardous. Some mines, such as the Italian MAT/6 mine , are designed to be flail resistant. Mines that have been buried for many years may become unreliable and fail to detonate when struck, yet they may still be hazardous. Also, some mines are smashed without being detonated. This
9184-399: The ground (removing vegetation and tripwires), and to detonate explosives. Tiller systems consist of a heavy drum fitted with teeth or bits that are intended to destroy or detonate mines to a given depth. However, mines can be forced downwards or collected in a "bow wave" in front of the roller. They have trouble with steep slopes, wet conditions and large stones; light vegetation improves
9296-1070: The ground before detonating. Their size varies and they are mostly metal, so they are easily detected by metal detectors. However, they are normally activated by tripwires that can extend up to 20 metres away from the mine, so tripwire detection is essential. The casing of blast mines may be made of metal, wood, or plastic. Some mines, referred to as minimum metal mines , are constructed with as little metal as possible – as little as 1 gram (0.035 oz) – to make them difficult to detect. Common explosives used in land mines include TNT ( C 7 H 5 N 3 O 6 ), RDX ( C 3 H 6 N 6 O 6 ), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN, O 12 N 8 C 4 H 8 ), HMX ( O 8 N 8 C 4 H 8 ) and ammonium nitrate ( NH 4 NO 3 ). Land mines are found in about 60 countries. Deminers must cope with environments that include deserts, jungles, and urban environments. Antitank mines are buried deeply while antipersonnel mines are usually within 6 inches of
9408-406: The ground using a two-dimensional grid of electrodes. Pairs of electrodes receive a small current and the resulting voltages measured on the remaining electrodes. The data are analyzed to construct a map of the conductivity. Both metallic and non-metallic mines will show up as anomalies. Unlike most other methods, EIT works best in wet conditions, so it serves as a useful complement to them. However,
9520-498: The ground. Operators can be endangered by defective mines or mines with delay charges that detonate after the blast shield has passed over; shaped charge mines that are capable of piercing most armor; and intelligent mines that are off to the side and use a variety of sensors to decide when to fire a rocket at an armored vehicle. One answer is to use remote controlled vehicles such as the Caterpillar D7 MCAP (United States) and
9632-426: The intensity must be kept low to limit exposure of humans to the radiation. Also, only mines less than 10 centimetres deep would be imaged. A buried mine will almost always leak explosives through the casing. 95 percent of this will be adsorbed by the soil, but the other 5 percent will mostly dissolve in water and be transported away. If it gets to the surface, it leaves a chemical signature. TNT biodegrades within
9744-448: The larger particles. Hyperspectral imaging , which senses dozens of frequency bands ranging from visible light to long-wave infrared , can detect this effect. Finally, polarized light reflecting off man-made materials tend to remain polarized while natural materials depolarize it; the difference can be seen using a polarimeter . The above methods can be used from a safe distance, including on airborne platforms. The detector technology
9856-406: The mine field - in this way, the cab is kept as far as possible from any detonations. Some mine-flail vehicles are operated under remote-control for safety. Vehicles of this type developed by DOK-ING are used worldwide in service with different armies, state agencies, humanitarian organizations and companies. Two main products are the light MV-4 and medium MV-10 types. The Swiss Digger DTR D-250
9968-400: The mine flail idea; he lobbied senior officers to authorize development of a flail and carried out his own experiments with mine flails in the spring of 1942. Later Major L. A. Girling was given the task of developing a similar device after it had been independently re-invented by another South African officer. When Berry heard of this, he handed over his work to Girling (who had had no idea he
10080-519: The minefield and are very effective at disposing of trip-wire triggered booby trap devices. In January of 2023 the German Bundeswehr donated several Keiler mine clearing vehicles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for use in demining operations in territory that was recaptured by Ukrainian forces, and in clearing breach paths for armored assaults on Russian front line positions. The frontline of
10192-809: The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war is now the most heavily mined stretch of land on the face of the earth. Sherman Crabs are displayed at the CFB Borden Military Museum , Ontario, Canada; the Yad La-Shiryon museum in Latrun , the Overloon War Museum in the Netherlands; The Tank Museum , Bovington in England; and the Cavalry Tank Museum in Ahmednagar , Maharashtra , India. The Sherman preserved on
10304-737: The performance, but thicker vegetation inhibits it. Flails, first used on Sherman tanks , have an extended arm with a rotating drum to which are attached chains with weights on the end. The chains act like swinging hammers. The strike force is enough to set off mines, smash them to pieces, damage the firing mechanism or throw the mine up. A blast shield protects the driver and the cabin is designed to deflect projectiles. Mine flail effectiveness can approach 100% in ideal conditions, but clearance rates as low as 50–60% have been reported. First used in World War I with tanks, rollers are designed to detonate mines; blast-resistant vehicles with steel wheels, such as
10416-464: The plus side, the squadron gained an armoured recovery vehicle . In 1945, in light of experience, each gained a fifth flail tank. Scorpion regiments had been formed of three flail troops. In combat, the usual tactic was to use Crabs in groups of five. Three would go forward in echelon formation , clearing a broad path through the minefield. The other two would hang back on the flanks and give fire support, but were ready to move forward to replace one of
10528-425: The properties of the mines. In particular, attenuation in wet soils can make it difficult to spot mines deeper than 4 centimetres (1.6 inches), while low-frequency radar will "bounce" off small plastic mines near the surface. Although GPR is a mature technology for other applications such as searching for archaeological artifacts, the effect of those factors on mine detection is still not adequately understood, and GPR
10640-413: The rats with clearing more than 100,000 mines. Mine flail A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a minefield by deliberately detonating land mines in front of the vehicle that carries it. They were first used by the British during World War II . The mine flail consists of a number of heavy chains ending in fist-sized steel balls (flails) that are attached to
10752-640: The risk of increase spreading of COVID-19. The exercise that was cancelled in January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The exercise is scheduled for March and April 2022 and will be led by the Norwegian Joint Headquarters . The first allied troops arrived in Norway in the autumn and winter 2021–22 to train and prepare for the exercise. The military activity took take place in south-eastern Norway, Central Norway and Northern Norway . As of March 2022,
10864-520: The seawall at Westkapelle in the Netherlands to commemorate the amphibious assault on Walcheren in November 1944 was originally a Crab, but the flails have been removed. At one time The Tank Museum, Bovington, had a Churchill Flail FV3902 "Toad" in its collection. However they no longer have it and its present whereabouts are unknown. Another Toad was restored to full working condition in England and in May 2008
10976-424: The sensitivity, the more false positives. The Cambodian Mine Action Centre found that, over a six-year period, 99.6 percent of the time (a total of 23 million hours) was spent digging up scrap. Dogs have been used in demining since World War II. They are up to a million times more sensitive to chemicals than humans, but their true capability is unknown because they can sense explosives at lower concentrations than
11088-525: The size and location of enemy defenses. Humanitarian demining is a component of mine action , a broad effort to reduce the social, economic and environmental damage of mines. The other "pillars" of mine action are risk education, victim assistance, stockpile destruction, and advocacy against the use of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions . Humanitarian demining differs from military demining in several ways. Military demining operations require speed and reliability under combat conditions to safely bypass
11200-497: The surface and triggered by pressure. A weight between 4 and 24 pounds (1.8 and 10.9 kg), the weight of a small child, is usually enough to set one off. They are usually cylindrical with a diameter of 2–4 inches (5.1–10.2 cm) and a height of 1.3–3.0 inches (3.3–7.6 cm). Fragmentation mines are designed to explode outwards resulting in casualties as much as 100 metres away. A subtype of fragmentation mines called "bounding" mines are specifically designed to launch upward off
11312-408: The surface. Mines may be placed by hand or scattered from airplanes, in regular or irregular patterns. In urban environments, fragments of destroyed buildings may hide them; in rural environments, soil erosion may cover them or displace them. Detectors can be confused by high-metal soils and junk. Thus, demining presents a considerable engineering challenge. In military demining, the goal is to create
11424-507: The tank could not fire even if the gunner could see his target. As with the Scorpion, flailing raised a huge cloud of dust. Despite all this, it was an effective and valuable vehicle during and after D-Day , especially as the Germans made extensive use of minefields to slow the Allied advance through France and the Low Countries . By the final months of the war, German minefields had ceased to be
11536-408: The technologies. Also, even if field tests were available for all technologies, they may not be comparable because performance depends on a myriad of factors, including the size, shape and composition of the mines; their depth and orientation; the type of explosive; environmental conditions; and performance of human operators. Most field tests have taken place in conditions that favor the performance of
11648-446: The technology, leading to overestimates of their performance. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) probes the ground using radar . A GPR device emits radio waves ; these waves are reflected at discontinuities in permittivity and one or more antennae pick up the return signal. The signal is analyzed to determine the shapes and locations of the reflectors. Discontinuities occur between materials with different dielectric constants such as
11760-470: The terrain is soft (e.g., sandy beaches); the deminer is further away from the mine and the rake can be used to either prod or scoop up mines from beneath. Metal detectors used by deminers work on the same principles as detectors used in World War I and refined during World War II. A practical design by Polish officer Józef Kosacki , known as the Polish mine detector , was used to clear German mine fields during
11872-414: The test mines in clay soil but only 71 percent in iron-rich soil. The worst detector found only 11 percent even in clay soils. The results can be improved by multiple passes. An even greater problem is the number of false positives . Minefields contain many other fragments of metal, including shrapnel , bullet casings, and metallic minerals. 100–1000 such objects are found for every real mine. The greater
11984-421: The treaty, and as of 2017, 28 countries had succeeded. However, several countries were not on track to meet their deadline or had requested extensions. A 2003 RAND Corporation report estimated that there are 45–50 million mines and 100,000 are cleared each year, so at present rates it would take about 500 years to clear them all. Another 1.9 million (19 more years of clearance) are added each year. However, there
12096-456: The volume of dust produced by flailing or the engines overheated because of the desert environment. Much of the mine clearing that was critical to the Commonwealth victory still had to be carried out by hand. One unexpected effect was that the noise, dust and terrifying appearance of an approaching flail tank caused several Axis infantry units to surrender without resistance. After the battle,
12208-803: Was a more suitable mount for a flail than the Matilda and many became available for modification as, by this time, they were being replaced on the battlefield by the M4 Sherman . A small number of these Grant Scorpions were produced and were used during the remainder of the North African campaign and later during the Allied invasion of Sicily . Meanwhile, in Britain, du Toit (as unaware of developments in North Africa as they were of his), working with AEC Limited , had developed
12320-407: Was by prodding the ground with a pointed stick or bayonet. Modern tools for prodding range from a military prodder to a screwdriver or makeshift object. They are inserted at shallow angles (30 degrees or less) to probe the sides of potential mines, avoiding the triggering mechanism that is usually on top. This method requires the deminer's head and hands to be near the mine. Rakes may also be used when
12432-647: Was constructed in South Africa and results were so encouraging that du Toit was promoted and sent to England to develop the idea. Before du Toit left for England, he described his idea to Captain Norman Berry, a mechanical engineer who had been sent to South Africa in 1941 to evaluate the system. Berry later served in the British Eighth Army during the Western Desert campaign . He had become an enthusiast for
12544-466: Was duplicating du Toit's current work in England, as that was still highly secret). David Gustanski made the device that connected to the side of the tank and made the flail raise and lower. Development by Girling's team in Egypt continued over the summer of 1942 and resulted in the "Matilda Scorpion" (the name came from a senior officer's remark on the tank's appearance). This was a Matilda tank fitted with
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