Countermine: hand held and vehicle mounted mine detection

The topics of this paper are the Advanced Hand Held Mine Detection (AHHMD) programme which started in April 1995, and the Mine Detection, Neutralisation and Route Marking System, the MINDER programme which started in April 1997. The objective of these projects is to investigate, compare and develop candidate technologies for a mine detector capable of locating all types of buried or surface laid mines without causing detonation, in all ground terrains and weather conditions, day or night, under covert or normal use, in real time. MINDER needs to have the added capability of neutralising and marking the mines encountered. A four year programme is planned for both projects. The prime considerations for the systems are: assurance of detecting all mines with a low false alarm rate. In addition to these considerations the system needs to be of reasonable cost and easy to operate with minimum training. The sensors are divided into two main types. Close-in sensors which are used for hand held detection and for detection in close proximity to the vehicle, and medium range sensors which are used exclusively on the vehicle mounted system, to give early warning of potential targets ahead.