There must me a better way of clearing land mines from an area than manual searching with a metal detector and careful digging – some kind of mechanical method.
Any ideas?
Don’t they have some machine with chains or some such?
a tank body with a hydraulically driven flail in front. crude and fairly effective.
:-)
yes, furious, one of them. ideal for the zombie apocalypse as well.
ChrispenEvan said:
a tank body with a hydraulically driven flail in front. crude and fairly effective.:-)
True, but expensive to operate, need servicing after a few hits, restricted to certain types of clear terrain, but mostly not good for clearing large areas with only a small swept area. They were designed by the military quickly clear lanes through mine belts, not large area deminers.
I wonder why the land mine clearing charities don’t use them then instead of employing poor peasants with metal detectors. Many of whom die in the attempt. Watching some TV program about it, the charity have lost 1 person a month on average to an explosion during clearing works.
maybe, but it would be bloody speccy to watch while it lasted.
AwesomeO said:
True, but expensive to operate, need servicing after a few hits, restricted to certain types of clear terrain, but mostly not good for clearing large areas with only a small swept area. They were designed by the military quickly clear lanes through mine belts, not large area deminers.
that makes sense.
I’m wondering about mechanised large area demining. Surely there must be some way.
Fence it off, put cattle in. UN donates hay. Fences can be reused, cows breed. Should be cheaper.
Them again I suppose the cattle will be stolen in BACs.
It is an intractable problem, the very purpose and design of mines is to be cheap and easy to lay, hard and expensive to remove.
How about a Mars rover type vehicle with a large hammer on a long pole.
Hammer pole slowly winches up and bangs down, lifts up again and then rotates slightly and bangs down 25 cm to the left or right, slowly clears an area 180 degrees in front. Rover rolls forward 25cm, rinse and repeat.
drones.
ChrispenEvan said:
drones.
Probably. Drones with explosives detectors and lasers.
It seems like the perfect employment
for the dickhead politicians who
start wars leading to mine laying. :-D
Ogmog said:
It seems like the perfect employment
for the dickhead politicians who
start wars leading to mine laying. :-D
fair point.
To suck-in yet ANOTHER Thread;
In The Book of Merlyn by T.H.White
he makes it a point to illustrate that if the Kings & Knights
traditionally astride war horses and protected in plate armour,
often viewing horrific battles from a far off hill top, were required
to actually take part in the battles that crippled, maimed & killed
the unfortunate peasants forced to fight in order that the acquire
yet more land and riches ..he might be somewhat more hesitant
to engage in war rather than diplomatic means to solve problems.
royalty did and still do fighting wars, name the last politician who hung up his coat and fight in the war he has helped start
wookiemeister said:
royalty did and still do fighting wars, name the last politician who hung up his coat and fight in the war he has helped start
Harold Holt. He found a way to turn his age back to 17 then time travelled to 1914 so he could enlist with the troops that went to Gallipoli under an assumed name. Seems like evidence of a guilty conscience to me……….
wookiemeister said:
royalty did and still do fighting wars, name the last politician who hung up his coat and fight in the war he has helped start
Most senior politicians are beyond fighting age but obviously a lot of them have served in the military. The most recent Aust PM to have done so was Whitlam, who served in the RAAF in World War Two as a navigator. He was active in the ALP while in the RAAF.
But yes, the British Royal family is certainly richer in war veterans than the average family. Philip was of course a naval officer involved in the Battle of Crete. Her Majesty, then Highness, did not serve in a forward position but there were certainly safer activities that a teenage princess could be doing than being a wartime military mechanic and driver in south-east England. Prince Andrew flew helicopters on combat and evac exercises in the Falklands war. And Harry of course has done two tours in Afghanistan.
party_pants said:
There must me a better way of clearing land mines from an area than manual searching with a metal detector and careful digging – some kind of mechanical method.Any ideas?
From what I’ve seen a knitting needle is the most effective way! Manually probing for the mine works when they’re made of plastic instead of metal.
pommiejohn said:
party_pants said:
There must me a better way of clearing land mines from an area than manual searching with a metal detector and careful digging – some kind of mechanical method.Any ideas?
From what I’ve seen a knitting needle is the most effective way! Manually probing for the mine works when they’re made of plastic instead of metal.
Drills on finding yourself in a minefield, about turn, lay down and probe out using bayonet. Not so good on observed minefields.
the best way I know to clear land mines is to place a grid over the top then click on the surrounding areas and if the numbers are indicative of near by mines you right click ad flag the mine… continue until all mines have bee revealed (usually about a third of the squares in the grid)
AwesomeO said:
Drills on finding yourself in a minefield, about turn, lay down and probe out using bayonet. Not so good on observed minefields.
Or climb up a sign and hope someone rescues you :)
What was wrong with the old landmine clearing tanks?
fit metal detectors underneath drones that can hover over land
the drones can be programed to sweep over any area of land
CrazyNeutrino said:
fit metal detectors underneath drones that can hover over land
the drones can be programed to sweep over any area of land
Anti personel mines hardly have any metal in them, They can be the size of a cigarette packet and mainly made of plastic.
Postpocelipse said:
What was wrong with the old landmine clearing tanks?!https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/M4a4_flail_cfb_borden_1.JPG
!http://www.janes.com/images/assets/738/29738/p1517154.jpg
Fit the tank with a self drive computer and program it to cover a given area
CrazyNeutrino said:
Postpocelipse said:
What was wrong with the old landmine clearing tanks?!https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/M4a4_flail_cfb_borden_1.JPG
!http://www.janes.com/images/assets/738/29738/p1517154.jpg
Fit the tank with a self drive computer and program it to cover a given area
Only don’t engage reverse.
PermeateFree said:
CrazyNeutrino said:
Postpocelipse said:
What was wrong with the old landmine clearing tanks?!https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/M4a4_flail_cfb_borden_1.JPG
!http://www.janes.com/images/assets/738/29738/p1517154.jpg
Fit the tank with a self drive computer and program it to cover a given area
Only don’t engage reverse.
Autonomous self driving vehicles fitted with the chain device in front
pommiejohn said:
CrazyNeutrino said:fit metal detectors underneath drones that can hover over land
the drones can be programed to sweep over any area of land
Anti personel mines hardly have any metal in them, They can be the size of a cigarette packet and mainly made of plastic.
The Russian ones on this TV show I was watching were all plastic and rubber apart from a spring and firing pin. So they give a very weak signal.
CrazyNeutrino said:
PermeateFree said:
CrazyNeutrino said:Fit the tank with a self drive computer and program it to cover a given area
Only don’t engage reverse.
Autonomous self driving vehicles fitted with the chain device in front
The Russians have a radio controlled mine sweeping vehicle that fits this description. About the size of a small car. Tracked. Fits on the back of a truck.
party_pants said:
CrazyNeutrino said:
PermeateFree said:Only don’t engage reverse.
Autonomous self driving vehicles fitted with the chain device in front
The Russians have a radio controlled mine sweeping vehicle that fits this description. About the size of a small car. Tracked. Fits on the back of a truck.
self driving looks like the way to go
they can be programmed to cover land with more accuracy than people
mentioned drones and flails aaaaaaaggggggges ago.
I’m not sure how easy it is to clear nuclear land mines. These contain a small nuclear warhead that goes off when tripped.
You’ve already heard of the trained rats, used to sniff out land mines.
mollwollfumble said:
I’m not sure how easy it is to clear nuclear land mines. These contain a small nuclear warhead that goes off when tripped.You’ve already heard of the trained rats, used to sniff out land mines.
Is there such a thing as a nuclear land mine in real life?