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The Tempest Demining Machine |
Various strategies have been proposed for making demining faster, cheaper, and safer. Most of them have not been too successful. One of the better ideas is the Tempest, a landmine clearing vehicle developed by DTW, a UK-based organization.
At the International Day for Disabled People, DTW displayed one of the Tempests, which are made here in Cambodia.
The Tempest is designed to be small enough and light enough to be easily transportable. A few of them have already been parachuted into remote areas in Africa where there are landmine problems. At the same time it must be heavy enough to master rugged terrain and to survive the occasional blast from a mine that isn't caught by the detection system.
The Tempest is basically a very simple design for a rugged machine that can be built locally in Cambodia and is easy to maintain and repair in the field. Much of the design work is done here in Cambodia as well as the actual manufacturing.
The rear view of the Tempest. Notice that there are no steering controls or driver's seat. It is operated from a safe distance by remote control.
The business end of the Tempest. The chains or "flails" are attached to a rapidly rotating bar which causes the chains to beat the ground and detonate buried mines in front of the Tempest as it moves slowly forward. Many fields have becoming overgrown in the decades since the mines were laid so the Tempest can cut shred trees up to four inches in diameter.
The wheels for the Tempest are made here in Cambodia and are specially designed to be rugged, to provide good traction in difficult terrain, and also to be able to withstand mine explosions and be easily repaired.