Land Warfare - Minesweeper: Land 144 close to first deliveries | ADM Oct 08

The first deliverables under Project Land 144 – Countermine Capability should be in the hands of ADF users by the end of this year, with a further two contracts due for signature relatively soon.
Gregor Ferguson

As this edition of ADM closed for press the Personnel Explosive Lane Clearance Charge (PELCC) systems ordered from Chemring Australia in October last year had just been unloaded after their delivery voyage from Germany.

The $3.35 million contract was signed in October last year and the company expects to begin operator training by the end of this year, with the system in full service with the Royal Australian Engineers by May next year.

The PELCC is a man portable system consisting of a linear explosive charge which is fired across a minefield by a rocket and then detonates, clearing a lane at least one metre wide for troops to march through.

It is a more modern version of the British Army’s much bigger Giant Viper mine-clearing system which was designed to clear lanes for armoured and wheeled vehicles through minefields up to 100m deep.

The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for the PELCC systems is Chemring Australia’s sister firm, the former Comet GmbH in Bremerhaven.

British defence contractor Chemring PLC acquired Comet (now re-branded Chemring Defence Germany) from its previous parent, the German armaments company Diehl, in 2005.

The PELCC was acquired under Project Land 144 which has two other key components: the Protected Hazard Reduction Capability – in effect a mine-clearance vehicle; and the Improved Handheld Detector (IHD).

The aim of the project, which only came into the Defence Capability Plan (DCP) in 2006, is to provide high-readiness Sapper units with an enhanced countermine capability based on both military and commercial off the shelf solutions.

A restricted RFT was issued in late-2006 to companies able to meet these requirements more or less off the shelf. The total budget for Land 144 is $25-30 million.

The Protected Hazard Reduction Capability element seeks mechanical mine clearance vehicles capable of clearing land mines whilst reducing the operator’s exposure to the risk of mine detonation.

The technology here tends to be simple, but sophisticated in its application: typically, rollers, flails, ploughs and bulldozer blades.

Army isn’t looking for a combat capability, rather a means to clear mines after hostilities cease and return the affected land to more productive uses.

Contenders

Four firms responded to the RFT for this element – ADM has covered two of them previously: Swiss company Minewolf AG, teamed with Rosebank Engineering in Melbourne, and Croatian firm DOK-ING, which teamed with Tenix Defence Systems Land Division, now part of BAE Systems Australia.

Both bidders offered credible, in-service equipment: the Minewolf system has been used extensively by humanitarian de-mining organizations in the Sudan, Jordan and the Balkans and was just starting to break into the military market in NATO Europe at the end of 2006.

Earlier this year it was ordered by a Middle East defence force.

The DOK-ING bid was based on two vehicles: the 6-tonne MV-4, which has been acquired by the US Army for use in a number of theatres, including Iraq and Afghanistan; and the 18-tonne MV-10 which uses a double-flail clearance system designed to provide maximum confidence that a lane has been cleared in a single pass.

These bidders’ offerings provide high levels of operator protection and enable remote control operations in high-risk areas.

And both can point to significant track records of areas cleared, ordnance neutralised and casualties prevented.

A Defence spokesman told ADM in early September, “The Commonwealth has selected a preferred supplier and negotiations continue prior to entering a contract. At this time a preferred supplier can not be publicly announced.

"Eight equipments are expected to be procured to meet the ADF requirement.

"This element of the project is expected to have Introduction Into Service and project closure completed in 2011.”

The contract should be signed by the end of this year.

Defence was similarly reticent over the IHD element of Land 144.

ADM was told: “The Commonwealth has selected a preferred supplier and negotiations continue prior to entering a contract.

"At this time a preferred supplier cannot be publicly announced.

"Approx 140 equipments are expected to be procured to meet the ADF requirement.

"This element of the project is expected to have Introduction Into Service completed in 2009.”

The contract was expected to be signed around the end of October.

The IHD system is required to detect metallic and low metal content plastic mines using a dual-sensor detector head, according to the DMO.

These types of detector provide a higher detection probability and a reduced false alarm rate, so reducing time and improving efficiency.

This capability is not a replacement but an enhancement to current in-service mine detectors, the DMO says.

Interesting decision

Interestingly, ADM understands an Australian company, Minelab Electronics in Adelaide, was not one of the firms to receive the restricted RFT for mine detectors.

This despite providing the Army with its current fleet of F1A4 and F3 handheld mine detectors and, in September 2006, winning part of a US$390 million contract to provide the US Army with its next generation of hand-held mine detectors.

Minelab’s 10-year contract covers the supply of the metal detecting element for up to 17,000 AN/PSS-14 Hand-held Stand-off Mine Detection Systems (HSTAMIDS) which, for the first time, combine a conventional metal detector with ground-penetrating radar.

This combination enables one piece of equipment, for the first time, to detect all metallic and non-metallic, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines in all types of soil.

The company developed HSTAMIDS in partnership with US firm L-3 CyTerra, an expert in ground penetrating radar which is acting as prime contractor for the project.

The HSTAMIDS will replace the US Army’s existing fleet of single-sensor detectors.

Under the US Army contract, Minelab manufactures the metal detection components of the system – essentially the Australian Army’s F3 mine detector unit - which L-3 CyTerra integrates into the operational unit.

There doesn’t seem much doubt that some of the new equipment will be deployed to support ADF units operating in high-threat areas such as Afghanistan.

Notwithstanding the enhanced protection offered by vehicles such as the Bushmaster, the casualties inflicted on Coalition personnel and equipment by mines and IEDs demands a visible and effective response and Project Land 144 is designed to help provide it.