Mine flail
Encyclopedia
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
s in front of the vehicle that carries it. They were first used by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The mine flail consists of a horizontal, rapidly-rotating rotor mounted in front of the vehicle on two arms. Fist-sized steel balls are attached to the rotor by chains, with each length of ball-ended chain comprising a flail. The rotor's rotation makes the flails spin wildly and continuously and violently pound upon the ground. The force of a flail strike above a buried mine mimics the weight of a person or vehicle and causes the mine to detonate, but in a safe manner that does little damage to the flails or the vehicle.
World War II
Before du Toit left for England, he described his idea to Captain Norman Berry, a mechanical engineer who had been sent to South Africa in 1941 to evaluate the system. Captain Berry later served in the British Eighth Army during the Western Desert Campaign
Western Desert Campaign
The Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War, was the initial stage of the North African Campaign during the Second World War. The campaign was heavily influenced by the availability of supplies and transport. The ability of the Allied forces, operating from besieged Malta, to...
. He had become an enthusiast for the mine flail idea; he lobbied senior officers to authorize development of a flail and he carried out his own experiments with mine flails in the spring of 1942. Later, a Major L. A. Girling, was given the task of developing a similar device after it had been independently re-invented by another South African officer. When Captain Berry heard of this, he handed over his work to Girling (Girling had had no idea he was duplicating du Toit's current work in England as that was still highly secret).
Dr.David Gustanski made the device that connected to the side of the tank that made the flail go up and down.
Development by Girling's team in Egypt continued over the summer of 1942 and resulted in the "Matilda Scorpion" (the name came from a senior officer's remark on the tank's appearance). This was a Matilda tank
Matilda tank
The Infantry Tank Mark II known as the Matilda II was a British infantry tank of the Second World War. It was also identified from its General Staff Specification A12....
fitted with a rotor, mounted on two arms, roughly 6 feet (1.8 m) in front of the tank. The rotor carried 24 flails and was driven at 100 rpm by a 105 horsepower (78 kW) Ford V8 engine. This second engine was fitted in an armoured box mounted on the right side of the tank, the outside box included space for a crewman who operated the device. Although the mine sweeping process was slow, the Scorpions raised such a huge dust cloud when used in the desert that they obscured themselves from German gunners. The cloud also blinded the drivers and the crews had to resort to wearing their gas masks in order to breathe.
Twenty-five Matilda Scorpions, operated by the 42nd Royal Tank Regiment and 44th Royal Tank Regiment
44th Royal Tank Regiment
The 44th Royal Tank Regiment was an armoured regiment of the British Army during the Second World War. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps....
of the 1st Army Tank Brigade, were available by October 1942 and took part in the Second Battle of El Alamein
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle took place over 20 days from 23 October – 11 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance. Thereafter, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery...
. German minefields around El Alamein contained around three million mines and had been named the Devil's gardens
Devil's gardens
The Devil's gardens was the name given by Erwin Rommel, commander of the German Afrika Korps during World War II, to the defensive entanglements of land mines and barbed wire protecting his positions during the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942...
by the German commander, Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
. Breaching these minefields was vital to the Allied battleplan.
During the battle, the Scorpions were less successful than hoped. While reasonably effective at mine clearing, the hastily developed flail system was unreliable and broke down frequently. Also, there were frequent engine failures as the air filters were overwhelmed by the volume of dust produced by flailing, or the engines overheated because of the desert environment. Much of the mine clearing that was critical to the Commonwealth victory still had to be carried out by hand. One unexpected effect was that the noise, dust and terrifying appearance of an approaching flail tank caused several Axis infantry units to surrender without resistance.
After the battle, a Mark II version of the Scorpion was produced by removing the main gun as that was thought to be redundant. Controls for the flail were moved into the turret so the flail operator could be moved inside the tank, taking the place of the gunner. Engine air filters were improved and unreliable components strengthened. Mark III and Mark IV Scorpions were later developed that were based on the M3 Grant
M3 Lee
The Medium Tank M3 was an American tank used during World War II. In Britain the tank was called "General Lee", named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and the modified version built with a new turret was called the "General Grant", named after U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant.Design commenced...
. This larger tank was a more suitable mount for a flail than the Matilda and many became available for modification as, by this time, they were being replaced on the battlefield by the M4 Sherman
M4 Sherman
The M4 Sherman, formally Medium Tank, M4, was the primary tank used by the United States during World War II. Thousands were also distributed to the Allies, including the British Commonwealth and Soviet armies, via lend-lease...
. A small number of these Grant Scorpions were produced and were used during the remainder of the North African campaign and later during the Allied invasion of Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis . It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.Husky began on the night of...
.
Bailey bridge
The Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed by the British during World War II for military use and saw extensive use by both British and the American military engineering units....
and which had to be removed if it was to be transported by rail. Sixty Barons were constructed by Curran Brothers of Cardiff, but they were only used for demonstrations and training.
A number of experimental flail tank were produced, including the Valentine Scorpion, based on the Valentine tank
Valentine tank
The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in 11 different marks plus various purpose-built variants, accounting for approximately a quarter of wartime British tank production...
and several designs based the M4 Sherman
M4 Sherman
The M4 Sherman, formally Medium Tank, M4, was the primary tank used by the United States during World War II. Thousands were also distributed to the Allies, including the British Commonwealth and Soviet armies, via lend-lease...
–the Sherman Mark IV and Mark V Scorpions and the "Sherman Lobster". Eventually one of these, the Sherman Crab, went into full production at the request of General Hobart
Percy Hobart
Major-General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart KBE CB DSO MC , also known as "Hobo", was a British military engineer, noted for his command of the 79th Armoured Division during World War II...
and saw active service. Du Toit himself had became a strong advocate of a concept called the Parambulator Mine Flail - a self contained device with its own engine, that could be pushed ahead of any tank that was available. However, the consensus of opinion favored special-purpose tanks with a permanently mounted flail system and he returned to South Africa in 1943. In 1948, du Toit would receive an award of £13,000 from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors for his work on the flail. Nine others (including four South Africans) would share a further £7,000.
Wire obstacle
In the military science of fortification, wire obstacles are defensive obstacles made from barbed wire, barbed tape or concertina wire. They are designed to disrupt, delay and generally slow down an attacking enemy...
. In the initial Crab design the flail arms were raised and lowered hydraulically to set the height of the flail. The Mark II version of the Crab, developed as "Contouring Crab", switched to a counterweighted jib that naturally assumed the right height in balance to the force exerted by the rotating flail. This ensured mines buried under a dip in the ground would not be missed. The addition of a gearbox was required to maintain the correct flail speed, when the tank was travelling slower eg while climbing. A blast shield between the flail and the tank gave added protection from detonating mines. The hull machine gun was removed as the blast shield and flail blocked its field of fire. The Crab weighed 32 tons - around two tons more than a normal Sherman.
Smoke grenade
Smoke grenades are canister-type grenades used as ground-to-ground or ground-to-air signaling devices, target or landing zone marking devices, or as screening devices for unit movements. Smoke grenades are normally considered non-lethal, although incorrect use may cause death...
markers and a system that automatically fired illuminated poles into the ground at intervals. A pair of lit masts were mounted at the back for station-keeping when several Crabs were flailing together in echelon. Dust clouds reduced visibility to a minimum and careful control was essential to make sure the tanks' paths didn't drift apart, leaving an uncleared strip of ground between them.
In North-West Europe, Crabs were operated by the Lothian and Border Horse
Lothian and Border Horse
The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence, and based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothian and along the border with England.-Origins:...
, the 22nd Dragoons
22nd Dragoons
The 22nd Dragoons was the title held by a series of four Cavalry regiments of the British Army raised and disbanded between 1716 and 1945. The last regiment of this name existed during the Second World War, from 1 December 1940 until 30 November 1945....
and the Westminster Dragoons
Westminster Dragoons
The Westminster Dragoons are central London’s only Territorial Army cavalry unit. One of the Royal Yeomanry's five squadrons, their current role is to support the Formation Reconnaissance Regiments and the Joint Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Regiment on operations by providing...
, that were all part of the 30th Armoured Brigade, part of the 79th Armoured Division
79th Armoured Division
The 79th Armoured Division was a specialist British Army armoured formation created as part of the preparations for the Normandy invasion of 6 June 1944...
; in Italy, they were operated by the 51st Royal Tank Regiment. A flail squadron of the Royal Armoured Corps, as established in 1944 before D-Day, was made up of 4 troops of 4 flail-equipped tanks; the remainder of the tanks in the squadron were ordinary Shermans in the pilot troop and the Squadron HQ. In 1945, in light of experience, the establishment was three 5-flail troops per squadron with no pilot troop but with a single Armoured recovery vehicle
Armoured recovery vehicle
An armoured recovery vehicle is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to repair battle- or mine-damaged as well as broken-down armoured vehicles during combat, or to tow them out of the danger zone for more extensive repairs...
added. Scorpion regiments had been formed of 3 flail troops.
In combat, the usual tactic was to use Crabs in groups of five. Three would go forward in echelon formation
Echelon formation
An echelon formation is a military formation in which members are arranged diagonally. Each member is stationed behind and to the right , or behind and to the left , of the member ahead...
, clearing a broad path through the minefield. The two others would hang back to the flanks and give fire support, but were ready to move forward to replace one of the flailing tanks if it was disabled.
The Crab had disadvantages. Flailing did not remove all mines. A Teller mine
Teller mine
The Teller mine was a German-made antitank mine common in World War II. With explosives sealed inside a sheet metal casing and fitted with a pressure-actuated fuze, Teller mines had a built-in carrying handle on the side. As the name suggests the mines were plate-shaped...
buried up to 5 inches deep would be set off, but the resulting explosion would destroy a single flail chain which would have to be replaced at some point.
The Crab could only move at 1.25 mph (2 km/h) when flailing and the gun had to point to the rear so the tank could not fire even if the gunner could see his target. As with the Scorpion, flailing raised a huge cloud of dust. Despite all this, it was an effective and valuable vehicle during and after D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
, especially as the Germans made extensive use of minefields to slow the Allied advance through France and the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
. By the final months of the war, German minefields had ceased to be a major problem and it was proposed that the surviving Crabs should have their flail equipment removed and be converted back to regular Shermans - an idea that was bitterly resented by Crab crews, who considered themselves to be a highly-trained elite. In the end this never occurred and the Crabs spent the last part of the war clearing old minefields behind Allied lines.
The Sherman Crab saw limited use by the American army, the Crab Mark 1 was designated the Mine Exploder T3 Flail and the Crab Mark II the Mine Exploder T4. The flail idea was also copied by the Japanese, who produced a vehicle called the Mine Clearing Tank G that was based on a Type 97 Chi-Ha
Type 97 Chi-Ha
The was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of World War II, although the armor protection was considered as average in the 1930s...
tank. In the 1950s, the British Army used heavily armoured Churchill tank
Churchill tank
The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV was a heavy British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war...
s fitted with flails - this was the Churchill Flail FV3902 or Toad.
Modern use
Anti-personnel mine
Anti-personnel mines are a form of land mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles...
s and receive significant damage if they encounter a larger anti-tank mine
Anti-tank mine
An anti-tank mine, , is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles....
. Mine flail vehicles that can cope with anti-tank mines tend to be larger, heavier, more cumbersome and more expensive to operate.
Several designs, such as the Danish Hydrema
Hydrema
Hydrema is a dump truck manufacturer based in Støvring, Denmark, founded in 1959. They have specialized in the manufacture of articulated light dump trucks and earth moving equipment. A variety of models are produced, with a payload of up to 20 tonnes. A company subsidiary is also operating in...
910, are based on a truck chassis with an armoured cab and a flail mounted behind on what would otherwise be the cargo space. They are able to drive to the mined site like any other road vehicle. During flailing operations, they slowly drive in reverse over the mine field - in this way, the cab is kept as far as possible from any detonations. Some mine-flail vehicles are operated under remote-control for safety. The Swiss Digger DTR D-2
Digger DTR
The Digger Foundation is a Swiss humanitarian and non profit organization. The Foundation is based in Tavannes, Switzerland, and its goal is to promote technological assistance project in humanitarian demining...
is a smaller, four ton, remote-controlled vehicle which is more easily moved to remote or inaccessible locations and may be used in more confined areas.
Norwegian Army
Norway achieved full independence in 1905, and in the first century of its short life has contributed to two major conflicts, the Cold War and the War on Terror. The Norwegian Army currently operates in the north of Norway and in Afghanistan as well as in Eastern Europe. The Army is the oldest of...
's Leopard AMCV – a Leopard tank
Leopard tank
The Leopard is a main battle tank designed and produced in West Germany that first entered service in 1965. Developed in an era when HEAT warheads were thought to make conventional heavy armour of limited value, the Leopard focussed on firepower in the form of the German-built version of the...
that was modified by Hagglunds to carry an Aardvark flail system. The German Army
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
is equipped with the (mine clearing tank "wild boar"), based on a M48 Patton
M48 Patton
The M48 Patton is a medium tank that was designed in the United States. It was the third and final tank to be officially named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle It was a...
main battle tank. The first of 24 Keilers was supplied to the German Army by Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defence company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß. The company has a long tradition of making guns and artillery pieces...
in 1997.
However, tanks have the disadvantage of having the driver at the front, close to the flail and any explosions, and they can not go slow enough for effective mine clearance. Also, the weight of tanks makes them difficult to transport (by contrast, the 18-ton Hydrema 910 is light enough to be moved by air in a C-130 Hercules
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
.) The tanks used have generally been obsolete models that have been highly modified - some work under remote control, others have had the driver's station moved to the rear. In modern times, there has been little military interest in an updated equivalent of the Sherman Crab or Matilda Scorpion - a substantially unmodified tank still capable of combat. In battle, the modern preference is to detonate mines with explosive devices (Mine-clearing line charge
Mine-clearing line charge
A mine-clearing line charge is used to create a breach in minefields under combat conditions. While there are many types, the basic design is for many explosive charges connected on a line to be projected onto the minefield. The charges explode, detonating any buried mines, thus clearing a path...
s) such as the Antipersonnel Obstacle Breaching System
Antipersonnel Obstacle Breaching System
The Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System is an explosive line charge system that allows safe breaching through complex antipersonnel obstacles, particularly fields of land mines. The Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System is joint DOD program for the U.S. Army and the United States Marine...
or the Giant Viper
Giant Viper
The Giant Viper is a trailer-mounted, vehicle-pulled, mine clearance system, designed to be deployed in areas containing land mines. It was developed for the British Army in the 1950s...
. During the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, the U.S. 2nd Marine Division
U.S. 2nd Marine Division
The U.S. 2nd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps, which forms the ground combat element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force. The division is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and headquartered at Julian C...
made an attempt to breach an Iraqi mine field with a mine flail mounted on an Armored bulldozer
Armored bulldozer
The armored bulldozer is a basic tool of combat engineering. These combat engineering vehicles combine the earth moving capabilities of the bulldozer with armor which protects the vehicle and its operator in or near combat. Most are civilian bulldozers modified by addition of vehicle armor/military...
. But the flail was destroyed and the bulldozer crippled by an Iraqi anti-tank mine.
However they have come under criticism. They represent a large cost for non government, humanitarian organisations (an Aardvark Mine flail costs around $500,000 US.) They consume a lot of fuel as a powerful engine is needed to drive the rotor if the flails are to strike the ground with enough force to be effective. Mine flails can be unreliable and require spare parts that are difficult to obtain in remote regions. This leads to high operating costs and possibly lengthy periods when the flails are out of service.
It is known flails don't reliably detonate all the mines in the area being swept, leaving it potentially hazardous. Some mines, such as the Italian MAT/6 mine
MAT/6 mine
The MAT/6 is an Italian circular synthetic resin-cased minimum metal blast resistant anti-tank blast mine. It uses a pneumatic fuze which is resistant to shock and blast, and is also claimed to be resistant to mine flails and mine rollers. The mine's plastic case is waterproof, and it can be laid...
are designed to be flail resistant. Mines that have been buried for many years may become unreliable and fail to detonate when struck, yet they may still be hazardous. Also, some mines are smashed without being detonated. This is referred to as a disruptive strike and still renders the mine harmless but the ground is contaminated with metal debris and undetonated explosive material. This makes it harder to carry out the necessary manual check of the area after the flail had finished, either with metal detector
Metal detector
A metal detector is a device which responds to metal that may not be readily apparent.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...
s or explosive sniffer dogs. There are also anecdotes of mine flails flinging live mines out of the mine field and into safe areas. An experiment with inert mine-analogues
demonstrated this can happen as some were thrown over 10 metres (32.8 ft) by the flail, in one case, 65 metres (213.3 ft).
An additional problem is the vulnerability of some current mine flail vehicles to anti-tank mines. This means that if the presence of anti-tank mines is suspected, the mine-field must, paradoxically, be manually checked first to make it safe for the mine flail. These problems have led many humanitarian demining organisations to abandon the use of flails.
The clearance rate of mine flails can approach 100%, although rates as low as 50%-60% have been reported.
Effective clearance requires both suitable conditions and experienced flail operators. Current mine flails do not operate effectively on a gradient greater than 30% or on ground that is especially dry or boggy. A large number of rocks, greater than around 5 centimetres (2 in) in diameter, will also hamper flailing as they will tend to shield mines from flail blows. This is a particular problem in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
so the United Nations mine clearing operations in the south of that country have barred the use of flails.
Assessing flail effectiveness is difficult as it is hard to distinguish between a mine that has been missed by the flail and an aged, malfunctioning mine that has been struck but has failed to detonate. To be sure which is the case, it would be necessary to disassemble the mine and examine its fuze
Fuze
Fuze Beverage, commercially referred to as just Fuze , is a manufacturer of teas and non-carbonated fruit drinks enriched with vitamins. Currently the brand consists of five vitamin-infused lines: Slenderize, Refresh, Tea, Defensify, and Vitalize...
- a lengthy and dangerous procedure that is hardly ever carried out in the field. Because of this, all apparently intact mines are reported as being 'missed' by the flail and it has been suggested this leads to an under-reporting of the mine flail's clearance reliability.
Experience in Afghanistan suggests that, despite the disadvantages, mine flailing can, in certain circumstances, be a valuable step in a multi-stage demining process. They remove most mines but the area must still be checked manually. This is made easier by the fact that the flails strip most vegetation from the minefield and are very effective at disposing of trip-wire triggered Booby trap
Booby trap
A booby trap is a device designed to harm or surprise a person, unknowingly triggered by the presence or actions of the victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. However, in other cases the device is placed on busy roads or is...
devices.
Museum vehicles
Sherman Crab
Sherman Crabs are displayed at the CFB Borden Military MuseumCFB Borden
Canadian Forces Base Borden is a Canadian Forces base located in Ontario.The historic birthplace of the Royal Canadian Air Force, CFB Borden is the largest training facility in the Canadian Forces...
, Ontario, Canada; the Yad La-Shiryon
Yad La-Shiryon
Yad La-Shiryon is Israel's official memorial site for fallen soldiers from the armored corps, as well as one of the most diverse tank museums in the world. The cornerstone for Yad La-Shiryon was laid on...
museum in Israel, the Overloon War Museum
Overloon War Museum
The National War and Resistance Museum of the Netherlands is located at Overloon, municipality Boxmeer....
in the Netherlands; the Bovington Tank Museum
Bovington Tank Museum
The Tank Museum is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles in the United Kingdom that traces the history of the tank. With almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the second-largest collection of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles in the world.The Musée des Blindés in France...
in England and in India, at the Armoured Corps Museum in Ahmednagar Fort, Ahmednagar.
Churchill Toad
The Bovington Tank museum has a Churchill Flail FV3902, "Toad" in its collection. Another Toad was restored to full working condition in England and in May 2008 was acquired by Jacques Littlefield'sJacques Littlefield
Jacques Littlefield founded the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation , also called the Littlefield Collection.-Collection:...
Military Vehicle Technology Foundation
Military Vehicle Technology Foundation
The Military Vehicle Technology Foundation is a large collection of military vehicles located in Portola Valley, California. It was founded by the late Jacques Littlefield, and now is under the direction of Bill Boller....
in California.
Mine flail vehicles
- Aardvark JSFUAardvark JSFUAardvark JSFU Mark 4 is a British-made Mine flail vehicle built by Aardvark Clear Mine Limited of Aberdeenshire, Scotland....
- BionixBionix AFVThe Bionix is a family of tracked Singaporean armoured fighting vehicles developed by Singapore Technologies Kinetics . Intended to augment the Singapore Army's aging M113 armoured personnel carriers, it is the first indigenous armoured vehicle to be developed in Southeast Asia...
Trailblazer - Sisu RaisuSisu RaisuSisu RA-140 DS, also known as "Raisu" in Finland, is a flail-type demining vehicle developed by Finnish company Sisu Auto and currently manufactured by Patria. It has been sold to other military forces, and is also being used in peacekeeping operations....
- Digger DTRDigger DTRThe Digger Foundation is a Swiss humanitarian and non profit organization. The Foundation is based in Tavannes, Switzerland, and its goal is to promote technological assistance project in humanitarian demining...
See also
- DeminingDeminingDemining or mine clearance is the process of removing either land mines, or naval mines, from an area, while minesweeping describes the act of detecting of mines. There are two distinct types of mine detection and removal: military and humanitarian.Minesweepers use many tools in order to accomplish...
- Hobart's FunniesHobart's FunniesHobart's Funnies were a number of unusually modified tanks operated during World War II by the United Kingdom's 79th Armoured Division or by specialists from the Royal Engineers. They were designed in light of problems that more standard tanks experienced during the Dieppe Raid, so that the new...
- Mine plowMine plowA mine plow is a tank-mounted device designed to clear a lane through a minefield, allowing other vehicles to follow. Buried land mines are plowed up and pushed outside the tank's track path or tipped over...
- Mine rollerMine rollerA mine roller or mine trawl is a demining device mounted on a tank or armoured personnel carrier, designed to detonate anti-tank mines. It allows engineers to clear a lane through a minefield which is protected by enemy fire....
- Pookie (vehicle)Pookie (vehicle)The Pookie mine detection vehicle was created to deal with the constant mining of the roadways during the Rhodesian Bush War. According to , manufacturer of the Pookie:...
External links
- du Toits British patent, Du Toit's patent for the Mine Flail, filed August 31, 1945, issued November 1949
- Churchill Toad Restoration The world's only operating Churchill Toad is now restored and running.
- Recollections of a Sherman Crab crewman, BBC People's War Archive.
- Article from the Bovington Tank Museum on World War 2 mine flails.
- Description of the Danish Hydrema 910 Mine Clearing Vehicle.
- Danish Army website describing the Hydrema 910.
- Website of Aardvark Clear Mine Ltd. - Manufacturer of the Aardvark mine clearing vehicle.
- English Language Manufacturer's Website of the Croatian DOK-INGDOK-INGDOK-ING d.o.o is a large Croatian producer of unmanned multi-purpose vehicles established in 1992. DOK-ING is also developing a small electric city car called the XD.-Mine Clearance Vehicles:*MV-4*MV-10-International Users:-External links:* *...
mini-mine flail vehicle. - Article about the use of the Aardvark and Hydrema by the US military in Afghanistan