Robotic vehicle helps clear minefields

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Chief Master Sgt. Mark Lewis shows off the Air Force's first robotic mine-area clearing vehicle at Hurlburt Field, Fla., on Tuesday, May 23, 2006. Developed by the 823rd Red Horse at Hurlburt and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., the vehicle is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan within the next two months to help clear minefields for airfield expansion and route clearing. Chief Lewis is the Red Horse's chief of airfields. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Timothy P. Barela)
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Robotic vehicle helps clear minefields

Posted 5/23/2006

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by Master Sgt. Timothy P. Barela
Air Force Print News

5/23/2006 - HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFPN) -- Building roads and airfields in Afghanistan presents a unique challenge that stateside heavy equipment operators don’t encounter … minefields.

That is why members of the 823rd Red Horse -- or Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers -- here joined the Air Force Research Laboratory at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., to develop a robotic mine-area clearing vehicle.

“The mine-area clearing vehicle is going to provide the Air Force -- specifically Red Horse combat engineers -- the opportunity to clear a known minefield or an unknown minefield to expand the air base or clear routes in a forward operating location,” said Chief Master Sgt. Mark Lewis, the squadron's chief of airfields.

Using the robotic vehicle helps ensure they will not get blown up in the process.

“There are so many minefields in Afghanistan because of the number of years that country was occupied by Russia and then the Taliban,” Chief Lewis said. “It made it tough to expand air bases because of the minefield potential.”

Air Force leaders decided to develop equipment that combat engineers could use to safely assist the Army and other services with the mine-clearing function, the chief said.

“The first Red Horse units were deployed with the Army in Afghanistan and there were definitely some safety concerns,” he said. “It took two operators actually inside the cabin of the vehicle at first. However, the Air Force, in its quest for greater safety measures for the operators, decided to install robotics into our particular unit.”

That’s when the Air Force Research Laboratory got involved. Starting in August 2004, the lab, in conjunction with Red Horse troops, developed the system so it could be completely operated by robotics. Operators now use laptop software and a control box to guide the vehicle through a deadly minefield.

“It still takes two operators -- one to steer and control the vehicle’s functions and one to monitor the gauges and the cameras mounted on the outside to ensure the vehicle is going in the right direction,” Chief Lewis said.

The big difference for operators is now they can be as far as a mile away from the vehicle -- and the minefields -- to operate it, he said.

It took a year and a half and more than $2 million to develop and perfect this mine-clearing system, he said. Today, the first fully functional MACV (pronounced “Mack-V”) is sitting at the squadron ready to deploy between now and July.

“Soon after it’s deployed, it will get the chance to do its first actual full operational testing,” Chief Lewis said.

The Air Force is in the process of adding to its robotic fleet. The goal is to buy enough additional vehicles with the installed robotics so that every active duty Red Horse unit will have two MACVs, the chief said.

Along with its robotics, another unique aspect of the MACV is that the operators aren’t bomb experts; they are exclusively Red Horse heavy equipment operators.

“These guys aren’t from (explosive ordnance disposal),” the chief said. “They are pavement and construction equipment operators.”

In other words these guys typically build roads, not diffuse landmines.

“The MACV operators will work in conjunction with (explosive ordnance disposal) technicians when doing mine clearing,” Chief Lewis said. “After using the MACV, you still have to come in with mine detection dogs or other manual means, which means boots on the ground. The MACVs simply make it safer for everyone involved.”

The MACV works by using spinning chains with heavy carbide steel “knuckles” on the end to flail the ground and hopefully detonate any anti-personnel or anti-tank mines. Basically, it’s a rototiller on steroids, Chief Lewis said.

“Besides making the area safer for the work crews, it’s a time savings for us,” he said. “Manual mine clearing is a very slow and tedious process. So by having the robotic machine go in and flail the ground, that speeds up the initial clearing, which leads to faster construction.”

So how does the MACV itself avoid becoming a landmine victim?

“There’s an armor wall built into the unit that is between the rotating flail and the vehicle,” Chief Lewis said. “The wall protects the vehicle.”

The squadron has nearly a dozen operators trained on the MACV, and it also owns the pilot unit.

“That means we’re responsible for developing the standard operating procedures for the MACV,” Chief Lewis said. “Eventually, we’ll develop a standardized lesson plan and study guide to train the other active duty units and even some of the Guard and Reserve Red Horse units.”

The high-tech mine clearance vehicle hasn’t been that much of a challenge to learn for Red Horse troops.

“This is the computer generation,” Chief Lewis said. “Today’s younger Airmen are Gameboy and Nintendo experts, so it’s pretty quick training for them."