KRASNOARMEISK, Moscow Region. April 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The Bazalt research and production enterprise and the Defense Ministry's 15th central research, development and testing institute are designing an automated mobile installation for mine disposal, Bazalt Director General Vladimir Korenkov said on Tuesday.
"The installation developed by experts of the enterprise and Defense Ministry on a basis of know-how will have no analogues in the world," Korenkov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Scientists have developed a special compound that fills mines; upon hardening, the compound blockades fuses and seals explosives in them. Resulting blocks are safe in storage and transportation. They can be cast or thrown without creating the danger of a blast.
The technology has been tested and approved, Korenkov said. Tests were held in the interests of civil-purpose industry but in accordance with military standards that are much tougher.
Cemented mine clusters "retain the capacity of exploding," which makes it possible to use them in civilian purposes, for instance, as deep-hole charges in the mining industry. "They are no more dangerous than common TNT charges, but three times more effective. Such disposal is absolutely safe from the point of view of environment protection," the director said.
Developers of the method got a gold medal of the Archimedes 2002 international industrial property show on March 31, 2002. An international jury awarded the designers for developing a safe method of ammo demilitarization. Creation of an automated mobile installation will make it possible to commercialize the technology of anti-personnel mine stock demilitarization.