challenge for countermine. However, it is the multiplicity of the threat, infinite variety of employment options, and varying environmental conditions that serve to make countermine one of the most difficult technical challenges facing the material development community. There is no single solution for the detection and neutralization of landmines. It is important to note that the mine threat continues to grow in lethality and sophistication of targeting sensors. Additionally, it is important to note that it is much faster and easier to change a landmine to meet a given countermeasure than it is to develop a countermeasure. The threat facing U.S. Forces in Bosnia today is an excellent example of the complexity of the countermine problem. While the mine threat consists primarily of simple pressure fuzed mines, they have low metallic content, which makes them difficult to detect. When combined with difficult terrain and adverse weather conditions, the overall degree of difficulty in addressing a low tech threat serves to make countermine operations extremely difficult. We are taking advantage of the lessons we learned in Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Somalia. These two events have reaffirmed the threat posed by mines and the variety of conditions under which they can be employed with great efffectiveness. These experiences have focussed our attention on the need for improved detection. We are looking at recently developed and developing technologies such as ground penetrating radar, infrared and electro-optic systems to deal with this threat. We have also initiated actions to give us increased ballistic and mine blast protection for our tactical wheeled vehicle systems which are critical in operations such as Bosnia. The Army has taken an aggressive leadership role in equipping the U.S. Forces with Countermine equipment for deployment to Bosnia. In addition to supporting fielded equipment, we are working to support the Theater CINC in obtaining requested equipment to augment the fielded capability. The U.S. Army Project Manager for Mines, Countermine and Demolitions has the lead with support from Army Material Command (AMC) to obtain the equipment requested by the forces deployed to Bosnia. First priority is being given to the equipment specifically requested by USAREUR. AMC Headquarters has established a technology integration cell that is currently serving as a clearing house for technologies with possible application for the Bosnia deployment. The AMC cell has issued a DoD wide data call and has assembled a group of subject matter experts to screen the proposed technologies. The most promising technologies are being identified and offered to the CINC for consideration for use in Bosnia. In presenting the countermine program, we will work within the framework of the five operational imperatives for Countermine: detection, breaching, clearance, marking and protection. The order of presentation will be a discussion of the state of the art for each of the operational imperatives and challenges faced by the material development community. We will then review fielded equipment, equipment requested by USAREUR, systems in development, the science and technology base, emerging technologies and a review of systems available in the foreign marketplace. DETECTION Detection of land mines and minefields presents the greatest technical challenge of the five operational imperatives. Essentially, scientists and engineers from industry and Government are investigating technologies that look for buried objects made from a variety of materials including plastic, metal and wood that closely resemble many natural objects such as rocks and tree roots. The objective of the research is to discriminate the mines from this background clutter while achieving operationally acceptable speeds of advance. The ultimate goal of the Army's mine detection program is to provide the soldier with winning edge equipment to detect both plastic and metal cased buried and surface antitank and antipersonnel mines and minefields. Near 100 percent detection probabilities, near zero percent false alarms and militarily significant rates of advance are included in this goal. Mine and minefield detection systems are categorized by their host platform. The platforms are air, ground vehicle and soldier. State of the art technologoies being implemented for the aerial platform include active and passive infrared line scanners and lasers. For the ground vehicle, forward looking infrared, ground penetrating radar, and pulsed induction metal detectors provide the most promise. For the soldier, the state of the art metal detector was first fielded in 1992. Additional research and development focuses on forward looking infrared and ground penetrating radar. The key to each of the platform specific technologies or technology combinations is signal processing and automated target recognition algorithms. A score of other mine detection technologies have been evaluated during the past two decades. These technologies include nuclear, explosive vapor detection, acoustic and seismic, ground penetrating radar, and biosensors to include bacteria and animals. Although some of these technologies are not adequate for the Army's countermine mission they have shown application for demining and UXO disposal missions where operation time and tempo of execution can be selected during optimal weather conditions. With advances in computer processing, some of the previously rejected potential technologies are being reexamained. 25-974 96-4 1 BREACHING Breaching systems available to U.S. Forces fall into three categories: explosives, mechanical and electronic. As newer and more sophisticated mines are developed and fielded, more robust countermeasures are needed. Both vehicle and man portable systems exist. a. Explosives: Vehicle mounted and man portable systems exist which use rocket launced explosive line charges to create a path through a minefield. Man portable systems have been evaluated for use by dismounted troops to breach a footpath lane through an antipersonnel minefield. No man portable systems have been fielded for use by U.S. Forces, however such a system is in development. b. Mechanical: Most typical mechanical systems are mine plows, rakes, flails and rollers for heavy armored vehicles. While these mechanical systems can be developed for virtually all military vehicles, only those for heavy armor have been fielded to U.S. forces. C. Electronic: There are a number of electronic devices designed to activate magnetic influence fuzed mines before the vehicle passes over them. The U.S. Army developed and type classified the Vehicle Magnetic Signature Duplicator |