|
I highly recommend you visit the Website from which
the following was extracted as there is an Image which illustrates the
Helicopter Minesweeper.
 Fighting Terrorism: The Helicopter Minesweeper
There is a cheap, proven device that can be used
immediately to clear landmines from vast stretches of land with very little risk
to man and machine. The Helicopter Minesweeper, designed by Dr. Bill Wattenburg
and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has the added benefit of plowing
every bit of ground it touches, making it all but ready for planting.
The Mine Problem in Afghanistan One of the largest
humanitarian problems facing Afghanistan at the moment is the large number of
landmines that have been placed there by the Soviets and the Taliban over the
last couple of decades. They pose a danger to the citizens, our military,
peacekeeping forces, and are keeping precious land from being used for farming
or ranching.
Three of our soldiers have already been maimed by
landmines in areas that we thought were cleared — obviously, our existing
techniques are not removing all the mines, and we must not leave Afghanistan
until we have made it safe for the population to use all of their land again.
Please contact your congressional representatives
to ask that they demand that the Army or Marines use this device in Afghanistan
immediately!
Helicopter Minesweeper Design and Operation The
chain-matrix minesweeper is a very simple design. The device consists of a
matrix of medium chain, with special snag-proof digging knives attached near the
front. These knives reach 6-inches into the soil, pushing the dirt and any
objects buried to that depth up above the chain matrix. If pulled at a high
enough speed, this action will cause any mines that aren’t detonated on contact
with the digging knives to bounce on the rear blanket-like portion of the
device, where they will most likely detonate.
Because of the sparse and flexible construction of
the minesweeper, explosions will do very little damage to the device, and it
will continue to function even if some of it has been destroyed. Any damage can
be easily repaired on-site with simple welding tools. No other demining devices
can withstand multiple blasts from anti-personnel and anti-tank mines and either
remain functioning or be repaired so easily.
Response to Criticism There are many who say this
helicopter minesweeper can’t possibly work; that a helicopter would be too
vulnerable to explosions when towing the minesweeper on a 500-foot long cable.
But these naysayers obviously haven’t talked to the Navy, which has been towing
hydrofoil mineclearing sleds at sea since 1973—at the end of a 450-foot tow
line.
Please call on your U.S. Congressional
representative and Senators to demand that our military use this helicopter
minesweeper in Afghanistan immediately.
What the critics say, and the truth, according to
Dr. Wattenburg:
Exploding mines will damage the helicopter, even on
a 500-foot tow line Then has the U.S. Navy been doing this for damn near 30
years (since 1973, in Vietnam) at sea? The Navy uses the MH-53E “Sea Dragon”
heavy-lift helicopter to tow the MK 105 hydrofoil mine clearing sled at sea (on
a 450-foot tow line). This helicopter has a tow-line capacity of 30,000
pounds—easily capable of handling the 25,000 pounds of force the full-size
chain-matrix minesweeper requires. This helicopter is basically a modified
version of the CH-53 “Super Stallion” (a.k.a. the “Jolly Green Giant”) used by
the U.S. Marines. Dozens of these helicopters are probably already in and around
Afghanistan. If the Marines are too macho to learn from the Navy “Sea Dragon”
pilots, then I’m sure any of our commercial heavy-lift helicopter pilots would
be happy to oblige. The chain-matrix was not used in Kuait, so it must not be
any good The device was available, but the mercenary contractors who took the
Kuait job, with full involvement of Kuwaiti middlemen, chose to clear the
minefields in more expensive and dangerous ways. They used soldiers from Egypt
and Pakistan, whose countries were more than willing to supply them in exchange
for hard currency. More than ten times more money was spent as would have been
required to clear most of the minefields in the desert. But 6–8 of these
soldiers were killed each month. The chain-matrix won’t work in all areas.
False. It has been tested in sticky clay soils, hardpan soils, and in rough
terrain covered with dense brush, as you can see in the video above. And while
it is true that it will not work in areas such as forests, there aren’t any
other devices that will work there either! The most important areas that need to
be cleared are easily accessible to a helicopter towing this device. Areas such
as farmlands, for instance. The chain matrix will work even over rocky and
brushy terrain as well as open areas and roadways. The Pentagon does not have
any other equipment or schemes that can do this with no danger to minesweeping
personnel. The helicopter might crash if the chain-matrix gets snagged False!
First, heavy-lift helicopters routinely use automatic disconnect devices in the
tow line that automatically release if too much force is applied. In addition,
the special design of the digging knives (the only portion that cuts into the
ground) causes them to tilt up and ride over any obstacles that would otherwise
snag it. Any mine clearing device must be 100% effective Not using the most
effective clearing technology means that soldiers must put their lives at
extreme risk. The easily demonstrated fact is that the chain matrix can sweep a
16-foot wide area at 15 mph and eliminate all trip wires and most or all
anti-personnel mines. Further Reading The helicopter minesweeper was first
covered in the article, “Clearing land mines by Helicopter”, which appeared on
the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 March 1991.
Additional background can be found in a section of
a background report on Dr. Wattenburg.
Read a letter that Dr. Wattenburg wrote to the
chief enginner of the Army—Lieutenant Colonel Charles L. Toomey—back in 1996.
You can read about the U.S. Navy’s Airborne Mine
Countermeasures (MCM) Systems, including the MK 105 helicopter-towed hydrofoil
sled; or an article about the helicopter minesweeping operations from
1974. http://www.exwar.org/mwp/appendix_d2.htm#airborne
Also interesting is the Airborne Mine
Countermeasures Web site.
This page was last modified on Friday, 28-Dec-2001
01:08:10 EST.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unless otherwise noted, contents of this site Copyright © 1996–2001 by Peter K. Sheerin, All rights reserved. This article, and many other interesting ones, can
be found at PushBack.com Related Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have any suggestions for other sources related to
this page, such as books, magazine/newspaper articles, or other Web sites? Drop
me a line and I’ll consider adding them.
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available
for free from http://www.printcharger.com/emailStripper.htm
Fighting Terrorism: The Helicopter Minesweeper
There is a cheap, proven device that can be used
immediately to clear landmines from vast stretches of land with very little risk
to man and machine. The Helicopter Minesweeper, designed by Dr. Bill Wattenburg
and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has the added benefit of plowing
every bit of ground it touches, making it all but ready for planting.
The Mine Problem in Afghanistan One of the largest
humanitarian problems facing Afghanistan at the moment is the large number of
landmines that have been placed there by the Soviets and the Taliban over the
last couple of decades. They pose a danger to the citizens, our military,
peacekeeping forces, and are keeping precious land from being used for farming
or ranching.
Three of our soldiers have already been maimed by
landmines in areas that we thought were cleared — obviously, our existing
techniques are not removing all the mines, and we must not leave Afghanistan
until we have made it safe for the population to use all of their land again.
Please contact your congressional representatives
to ask that they demand that the Army or Marines use this device in Afghanistan
immediately!
Helicopter Minesweeper Design and Operation The
chain-matrix minesweeper is a very simple design. The device consists of a
matrix of medium chain, with special snag-proof digging knives attached near the
front. These knives reach 6-inches into the soil, pushing the dirt and any
objects buried to that depth up above the chain matrix. If pulled at a high
enough speed, this action will cause any mines that aren’t detonated on contact
with the digging knives to bounce on the rear blanket-like portion of the
device, where they will most likely detonate.
Because of the sparse and flexible construction of
the minesweeper, explosions will do very little damage to the device, and it
will continue to function even if some of it has been destroyed. Any damage can
be easily repaired on-site with simple welding tools. No other demining devices
can withstand multiple blasts from anti-personnel and anti-tank mines and either
remain functioning or be repaired so easily.
Response to Criticism There are many who say this
helicopter minesweeper can’t possibly work; that a helicopter would be too
vulnerable to explosions when towing the minesweeper on a 500-foot long cable.
But these naysayers obviously haven’t talked to the Navy, which has been towing
hydrofoil mineclearing sleds at sea since 1973—at the end of a 450-foot tow
line.
Please call on your U.S. Congressional
representative and Senators to demand that our military use this helicopter
minesweeper in Afghanistan immediately.
What the critics say, and the truth, according to
Dr. Wattenburg:
Exploding mines will damage the helicopter, even on
a 500-foot tow line Then has the U.S. Navy been doing this for damn near 30
years (since 1973, in Vietnam) at sea? The Navy uses the MH-53E “Sea Dragon”
heavy-lift helicopter to tow the MK 105 hydrofoil mine clearing sled at sea (on
a 450-foot tow line). This helicopter has a tow-line capacity of 30,000
pounds—easily capable of handling the 25,000 pounds of force the full-size
chain-matrix minesweeper requires. This helicopter is basically a modified
version of the CH-53 “Super Stallion” (a.k.a. the “Jolly Green Giant”) used by
the U.S. Marines. Dozens of these helicopters are probably already in and around
Afghanistan. If the Marines are too macho to learn from the Navy “Sea Dragon”
pilots, then I’m sure any of our commercial heavy-lift helicopter pilots would
be happy to oblige. The chain-matrix was not used in Kuait, so it must not be
any good The device was available, but the mercenary contractors who took the
Kuait job, with full involvement of Kuwaiti middlemen, chose to clear the
minefields in more expensive and dangerous ways. They used soldiers from Egypt
and Pakistan, whose countries were more than willing to supply them in exchange
for hard currency. More than ten times more money was spent as would have been
required to clear most of the minefields in the desert. But 6–8 of these
soldiers were killed each month. The chain-matrix won’t work in all areas.
False. It has been tested in sticky clay soils, hardpan soils, and in rough
terrain covered with dense brush, as you can see in the video above. And while
it is true that it will not work in areas such as forests, there aren’t any
other devices that will work there either! The most important areas that need to
be cleared are easily accessible to a helicopter towing this device. Areas such
as farmlands, for instance. The chain matrix will work even over rocky and
brushy terrain as well as open areas and roadways. The Pentagon does not have
any other equipment or schemes that can do this with no danger to minesweeping
personnel. The helicopter might crash if the chain-matrix gets snagged False!
First, heavy-lift helicopters routinely use automatic disconnect devices in the
tow line that automatically release if too much force is applied. In addition,
the special design of the digging knives (the only portion that cuts into the
ground) causes them to tilt up and ride over any obstacles that would otherwise
snag it. Any mine clearing device must be 100% effective Not using the most
effective clearing technology means that soldiers must put their lives at
extreme risk. The easily demonstrated fact is that the chain matrix can sweep a
16-foot wide area at 15 mph and eliminate all trip wires and most or all
anti-personnel mines. Further Reading The helicopter minesweeper was first
covered in the article, “Clearing land mines by Helicopter”, which appeared on
the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 March 1991.
Additional background can be found in a section of
a background report on Dr. Wattenburg.
Read a letter that Dr. Wattenburg wrote to the
chief enginner of the Army—Lieutenant Colonel Charles L. Toomey—back in 1996.
You can read about the U.S. Navy’s Airborne Mine
Countermeasures (MCM) Systems, including the MK 105 helicopter-towed hydrofoil
sled; or an article about the helicopter minesweeping operations from 1974.
Also interesting is the Airborne Mine
Countermeasures Web site.
This page was last modified on Friday, 28-Dec-2001
01:08:10 EST.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unless otherwise noted, contents of this site Copyright © 1996–2001 by Peter K. Sheerin, All rights reserved. This article, and many other interesting ones, can
be found at PushBack.com Related Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have any suggestions for other sources related to
this page, such as books, magazine/newspaper articles, or other Web sites? Drop
me a line and I’ll consider adding them.
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available
for free from http://www.printcharger.com/emailStripper.htm
Psalm 33:12 says,
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord..." Archibald Bard
ICQ 83834746 |
