MINSK, February 21 (AVN) - Belarus will be one of the nations to hold field tests of a new mine clearance system, Colonel Vladimir Shkarubsky, acting chief of the Belarussian engineering troops, said on Wednesday.
The new mine detection was designed under the aegis of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by researchers of several countries, including Russians, Shkarubsky told the Military News Agency. The new device is necessary because current mine detectors and probes are capable of detecting metal, but failing to identify it. This slows down mine clearance considerably as the soil that witnessed combat operations contains a lot of other metal objects in addition to mines.
In order to speed up sapper activities, researchers used nuclear technologies. The impulse neutron generation installed in the new mine detector is capable of identifying metal objects underground.
The detector still needs completion that will take four to five months, Shkarubsky said. After that it will be tested in several countries simultaneously. Belarus is expected to host the most productive tests as over 300 square kilometres of its territory in the areas of WWII battles are in need of mine clearance. In case the tests are successful the IAEA is planning to find investors and start batch production of new-generation mine detectors.
About 60 million mines and other explosive devices are lying in the ground around the globe.