RE: Mines, detection of

Just want to add something to John's post.  This info is from someone
who did a couple of tours in Yugoslavia (former) as an assault pioneer
(infantry engineer for you yanks).

Around dusk they'd fly over a suspected or known minefield in a
helicopter.  Scanning the ground with an IR scope, certain mines would
show up due too the difference in temperatures between the mines and the
cooling ground around them.

Sheep herds would be used.  Bad for sheep, but better a dead sheep than
a dead person.	They would literally drive a sheep herd over a field and
see if anything was tripped.

After the above were done then the actual people would go in with
detectors.  These methods were used for great effect but it must be
remembered that they had the luxury of time and a lack of opposition.
The coolest thing about these methods is the mix of low tech and high
tech.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: jatkins6@ix.netcom.com [SMTP:jatkins6@ix.netcom.com]
> Sent: Friday, May 22, 1998 11:59 PM
> To:	FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
> Subject:	Mines, detection of
> 
>     Pardon the rambling, but a wee bit o' background is in order for 
> this latest addition to my mine house rules.
> 
>     Mine detection (other than the tried-and-true probing method) was 
> born in the mid-20th century with the invention of the handheld metal 
> detector.  This device had a number of drawbacks, including inability 
> to be mounted in a vehicle (necessitating vulnerable and slow 
> dismounted use), and basic stupidity of the device, in that it would 
> 'ping' on non-mine metalic objects and ignore mines without major 
> metallic content.  The Soviet Union was producing wooden mines even 
> before this device became common, and by the 1980s mines were in 
> existence sensitive enough to explode when a metal detector passed 
> within a foot of them (those nasty Italians!).  Countermine technology
> 
> got it's first real developments in the early 21st century when the 
> Americans adopted a ground-penetrating radar mounted on a light
> utility 
> vehicle.  (Under development today, to be perfected Real Soon Now
> [tm]) 
>  This technology was also crude and prone to false alarms, but over
> the 
> suceeding century and a half the race between mine makers and mine 
> detectors has been roughly equal.  With the 22nd century's capability 
> to produce computors intelligent enough to sort out rocks from 
> legitemate explosives, a good sensor suite can be a lifesaver in a
> mine 
> warfare environment.	They are still light enough to mount in a light 
> utility vehicle (4 capacity points), though they often are mounted as 
> part of a complete engineering package on a larger, more survivable 
> vehicle.  Comes in three rough technology levels, basic, enhanced, and
> 
> superior.  Also the operator quality comes into play--veterans shift
> up 
> a die, green units shift down.  Their use is only possible at low
> speed 
> (1/2 the unit's max in terrain scanned) and has a mere 200m (2 inch) 
> range.  Mines may also be manufactured at basic, enhanced, or superior
> 
> concealment technology levels.  Note that both rolls should be made be
> 
> referee, and the mine field owners MUST be kept secret, so he doesn't 
> know whether "You don't detect anything" means "I built a barbed wire 
> fence to make you slow down and scan it" or "Your idiot operators 
> couldn't detect it if they were driving through an ordnance dump".
> 
> Hand-held distance mine detection is possible, but requires a unit to 
> be equipped with this stuff and nothing but (close combat weapons
> only, 
> IOW, no other fun gear), and produces another die shift down.  Yes, 
> that means that a green unit using basic gear rolls a 1d2.  No, 
> hand-held shouldn't be cheaper than vehicle mounted--miniaturization
> is 
> expensive.  This is obviously a lot harsher than the simple metal 
> detectors of today, but you're talking a combination of sensors and
> the 
> expert computor systems to sort out granite from C-15 (or whatever 
> they're up to by then)
> 
> John M. Atkinson
> And no, the M. doesn't stand for "Mine-crazy"