Mine clearance devices, Minelifta

Minelifta is an anti-personnel mine clearance device developed over a period of several years by Corus Northern Engineering Services.

During the past 60 years, somewhere between 80 to 120 million landmines have been laid in over 70 countries. Nobody really knows how many mines are sitting there - many are laid and forgotten once a conflict is over.
Anti Personnel mines maim and kill, Minelifta has been designed as part of the solution to eradicating this large-scale problem.

The development of minelifta has included independent evaluation by Qinetiq, Cranfield University, and field trails in Bosnia, under the direction of Norwegians people’s aid.
The device consists of an independently – powered flail unit mounted aboard a Komatsu D65EX Bulldozer featuring an armour – protected operator’s cab.

A scalping blade lifts up to 20cm of soil, which is fed into the armour–protected flail hood, where anti personnel mines within the soil are either detonated or pulverised. At the rear of the bucket a plough forces flailed soil into an obvious mound for subsequent manual inspection
The flail operates within an armoured bucket – shaped cowling which contains flailed material with the cleared area, and is designed to withstand detonation of an anti – personnel mine without interruption to operation.

Extensive field trials have not only shown Minelifta to be robust and reliable, but also to be effective on a variety of terrain and vegetation conditions, as well as on slopes up to 30º.