The era of disposing landmines by detonation could be over after a high-tech device was unveiled on Tuesday that neutralises mines with a remote-controlled gas flame.
British inventor Paul Richards and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) unveiled the MineBurner, a remote-controlled device that burns landmines without the need to move, touch or detonate them.
”At no point does the mine have to be lifted or touched for the device to work. This is especially useful in the disposal of mines fitted with anti-lifting devices, which cause them to detonate when they are moved,” Richards said at Paardefontein, the CSIR testing centre north of Pretoria.
The MineBurner, which neutralises mines with a fire a fraction of the size of a detonation, can be used to dispose of mines targeting bridges and buildings in urban and other densely populated areas, Richards said.
”The unique feature of the MineBurner is that it does not contain any explosive components and is thus air-transportable and low-cost,” he said. ”This will make it easier to transport to areas where it is needed for humanitarian demining operations.”
Richards said several safety features, such as a very loud alarm that lasts for a minute before the device activates and the fact that the MineBurner is remote controlled, make it an ideal device for humanitarian work.
The device was developed and tested by Richards in conjunction with the CSIR and was funded by a grant from the Department of Trade and Industry.
It consists of a metal tube called an ”ignitiator” by Richards, because it initiates the burning process and ignites gases in a separate, pot-like chamber called an air-splitter.
The ignitiator is fitted with a pouch containing three separate bladders filled with oxygen pumped from the air, cooking gas or cigarette lighter fuel, and compressed air.
The gases are conveyed into the air-splitter, which is placed near a mine. A remote charge is then set off. It ignites the gases, which burn through the shell-casing of the mine.
Richards explained that it is not heat that detonates a mine but rather an initial detonation within a mine that sets off the main charge. The device burns through the shell of a mine and burns up its main charge, which means if the initial detonation does go off, only a small explosion occurs.
”Each MineBurner field unit [the ignitiator only] will cost approximately R2 500 and will last for 100 000 burns,” Richards said.
”The complete set, including several field units, the air pumps, the firebox and remote control, will cost about R70 000 and could last for seven years, even if it was used for 24 hours a day for seven days a week,” he said.
Journalists and observers were shown how the MineBurner disposes of an anti-personnel landmine and how the ignited gases are able to burn through a 1,6mm-thick steel plate.
”The thickest mine casing we’ve come across is no more than 1,2mm thick. The ability of the MineBurner to penetrate thicker plates makes it possible for it to be used in the disposal of other unexploded ordnance,” he said.
Richards described landmines as true weapons of mass destruction that kill or maim 25 000 people worldwide each year.
”It is estimated that about double that figure of people are maimed or killed by mines, but their cases are unreported,” he said.
Richards has demonstrated his device to the United States military and said he has safely taken it with him on a flight into the US on September 11 last year.
He said he is to demonstrate it in Cambodia at the end of the month and has been asked by representatives from Cyprus to demonstrate it there.
The device is to be manufactured and distributed by Isando Pneumatics and Sabertek, Richards said.
Richards (59) is a former airline pilot who was born in the United Kingdom and raised in Cyprus. He has been living in South Africa for the past eight years. — Sapa