Mr. WELDON. Thank you, General Beauchamp.

I think a little out of sequence, our next witness is Dr. Manley, if I am not mistaken. Dr. Manley.

STATEMENT OF CLAUDE MANLEY, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NAVY JOINT EXPLOSIVES ORDNANCE TECHNOLOGY DIVISION, U.S. NAVY SURFACE WARFARE CENTER, INDIAN HEAD DIVISION Mr. MANLEY. Thank you. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak.

Good afternoon. I am Claude Manley, the technical director at the Navy-managed joint service activity, responsible for providing military bomb disposal technicians with equipment and information used in the emergency neutralization of hazardous devices. We are part of the Naval Ordnance Center.

The traditional role of all military explosives ordnance disposal [EOD] is to find and neutralize dud or damaged explosive-loaded munitions which are a hazard to operations and require a one-onone response by highly trained and experienced technical specialists. EOD also deals with terrorists' improvised devices, explosive, chemical, radiological, and nuclear.

Explosives ordnance disposal [EOD] technicians are not normally used to breach land mine fields during an assault. Their numbers are too small, and they are not trained and equipped to operate in contact with enemy forces.

EOD technicians are routinely involved in the neutralization of ordnance and mines left behind by combatant forces. In the context of modern ordnance, the distinction between mines and improved conventional munitions is disappearing, and the tradition of EOD is expanding to include wide area ordnance decontamination.

The activities of the Naval EOD Technology Division support the EOD's specific joint service requirements, part of which addressed ordnance detection. As part of our continuous assessment of useful technologies, we manage an environmental unexploded ordnance remediation program for the Army Environmental Center. This program funds companies to demonstrate technologies applicable to locating and recovering ordnance on military firing ranges, both active and passive. We are also providing technical services on site to support the contracting by the Navy for the cleanup of Koha'olawe Island.

The detection of anomalous objects is a difficult problem, difficult technical problem. In World War II, mines were made of metal, and this feature was exploited by developers of mine detection equipment. Low-signature mines, handcrafted shoe-box mines, were first used against United States forces during the Korean conflict. In 50 years, improvements in manufacturing technology have made possible the high-volume, low-cost production of low-signature mines. Although of limited usefulness now, metal detectors will have an almost nonexistent mine countermeasures utility in the near future.

Naval Explosives Ordnance Disposal Technology Division [NAVEODTECHDIV] develops and purchases ordnance locators for use on land and in the ocean. Since the majority of ordnance is metal cased or contains significant quantities of metal, our development focus has been on magnetometry, passive detection of ferrous

materials, and low-frequency electromagnetic induction, active detection of conducting materials. At present, EOD uses operationally two passive and one active hand-held locator.

The Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division has in development, for a number of customers, the following projects with some long-term applicability to the mine countermeasures problem, probably of limited usefulness to the media problem in Bosnia, and I will summarize quickly what these programs are.

We have about three very sensitive metal locators in development. We also have four autonomous vehicle programs in development. One of these autonomous vehicles is a somewhat innovative concept. It uses very small robots. The idea was pioneered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We call the program BUGS. These are very small, very light-weight devices. You turn a lot of them loose and tell them to go find mines.

That concludes my statement.

Mr. WELDON. Thank you, Dr. Manley.

Mr. Reingruber.

STATEMENT OF JOHN REINGRUBER, ASSISTANT FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR SPECIAL OPERATIONS/LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Mr. REINGRUBER. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss capabilities recently developed in the Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program. I also will discuss contributions from another program under the oversight of Assistant Secretary of Defense (special operations/low intensity conflict) [ASD (SO/LIC)].

I am John Reingruber, assistant for science and technology in the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations Low-Intensity Conflict Office in Office of the Secretary of Defense [OSD]. Although the EOD established the humanitarian demining R&D program to develop equipment specifically for humanitarian demining purposes, some of these items may well assist and can be made available to the troops in Bosnia. They include a vehiclemounted detection system for on-road and off-road mine detection, a system to remotely collect vapor samples that are subsequently transported to dogs for detection of explosives, an explosive foam called otherwise known as liquid explosive foam [LEXFOAM] to destroy mines in place.

In addition to these items, we also can make available a hardening foam that prevents activation of mine fuses and marks individual mine locations, special shaped charges to neutralize mines, and a mine-marking device that attaches to any open-ring, hand-held mine detector.

As a result of the R&D conducted in this program, six mine-detecting leash dogs and handlers are scheduled to be deployed to Bosnia next week. As we move ahead with this fast-track program through fiscal year 2001, we will continue to identify systems applicable to countermine operations.

The explosive ordnance disposal in a low-intensity conflict program, although not specifically for countermine development, has made the following equipment available for Bosnia: The mini-flail,

which is capable of neutralizing antipersonnel land mines and improvised explosive devices while sustaining mine blast effects. One of the two flails is currently in Bosnia and the other awaiting transport to Europe.

Two improve mini-flails developed by the Humanitarian Demining R&D Program will be made available in the next 2 months.

A titanium mine detection probe that has been developed and— over 60 have been deployed to Bosnia with the U.S. Special Forces. A mine data base developed for the Special Forces has been enhanced. The mine facts data base that Congressman Evans showed has 500 copies in floppy disk format that will be delivered for use in Bosnia next month.

Another project that may have applicability is the Special Operation Forces Vehicle Ballistic Protection System. This is an improved lightweight system for use on their vehicles to protect against blast and fragments delivered by 12-pound antitank mines. If tests are successful, kits could be made available as early as March of this year.

As we continue to seek solutions in the next 5 years, we will be evaluating and advancing technologies that hold promise. Examples are ground-penetrating radar, infrared censors, robotics, and semiautonomous systems, and chemical neutralization techniques. That concludes my oral testimony. I will be followed by Dr. Michael Dow from the National Academy of Sciences.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Reingruber follows:]

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

(SPECIAL OPERATIONS AND LOW-INTENSITY CONFLICT)

BEFORE THE

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE

AND

THE PROCUREMENT SUBCOMMITTEE

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

104TH CONGRESS

RESPONSE TO THE LANDMINE THREAT IN BOSNIA

JANUARY 24, 1996

NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL

RELEASED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE

January 22, 1996

2

Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss demining technology recently developed and under development in the Humanitarian Research and Development (R&D) Program as well as other efforts in the Department of Defense not specifically under the Army's Tactical Countermine Program or the Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Advanced Technology Demonstration Program.

Although the DoD established the Humanitarian Demining R&D Program to develop equipment and systems specifically for humanitarian demining purposes, some of these items may well assist and can be made available to the troops in Bosnia. The Army's Communications and Electronics Command's Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate developed and demonstrated over 30 prototype items for humanitarian demining in FY 1995. At the direction of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict [ASD(SO/LIC)], the program manager has provided to Army planners in the U.S. and Europe a list of items from the program that could augment current countermine capabilities.

The Humanitarian Demining R&D Program applies available technologies to develop equipment for humanitarian demining and Military Operations Other than War. The program benefits by using technical inputs from: the Tactical Countermine Program and the UXO Advanced Technology Demonstration Program; the United Nations and a number of cooperating countries; and regular consultations with other government agencies, private industry, and operational representatives from the military and non-government organizations. Furthermore, coordination with representatives from the regional commanders indicated an immediate need for short-term, low-technology solutions to the humanitarian demining problem.

This program has emphasized the development of low-risk equipment to improve the efficiency and safety of humanitarian demining operations. Projects were developed that leveraged the technology previous and ongoing countermine programs. The program has focused on determining reliably whether certain land areas are mined or mine-free. As part of this program, the following items were identified to the Army as being available for deployment:

• A Vehicle-Mounted Detection System for on-road and off-route mine detection. This system consists of metal detectors and infrared, ultraviolet, and visible cameras mounted on a remotely-controlled vehicle.

• An explosive foam called LEXFOAM to destroy mines in place.

• A hardening foam that prevents activation of pressure and tension-release mine fuzes and marks individual mine locations.

• Shaped charges that use shock tube initiation and small amounts of explosives.

• A mobile training system that uses multimedia equipment to produce pamphlets, tapes, posters, and imprinted T-shirts to provide mine awareness training to people of the host nation.

• A mine-marking device that attaches to any open-ring handheld mine detector.