New HSTAMIDS Landmine
Detector Pinpoints the "Hidden Killers" in Humanitarian
Demining Operations
August 29, 2006
Fact Sheet
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
Washington, DC
August 29, 2006
(Original article can be found here)
"HSTAMIDS is the main breakthrough in mine clearance
since 1940." - Guy Willoughby, Director, The HALO
Trust
Following comprehensive, worldwide field evaluations
and demonstrations of the Handheld Standoff Mine Detection
System (HSTAMIDS) in humanitarian demining areas and scenarios
from September, 2004 through December, 2005, the U.S.
Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research
& Development Team launched the operational phase
of the humanitarian demining HSTAMIDS program in the Spring
of 2006. Using HSTAMIDS, deminers are able to differentiate
between harmless metal debris and deadly persistent landmines,
truly the most revolutionary development in mine detection
since World War II.
HSTAMIDS is a dual sensor system that integrates an electromagnetic
induction (EMI) metal detector and a wideband ground penetrating
radar (GPR). The system, developed by L-3 CyTerra, incorporates
ground compensation and sensor data fusion software that
provides the capability to discriminate landmines from
clutter. To date 2,000 systems have been fielded with
the U.S. military. By the end of 2006, the number delivered
will reach 3,100, with deliveries flowing from the recent
production contract amount of 17,000 systems. The HSTAMIDS
used in humanitarian mine action operations in Cambodia,
Afghanistan, and in Thailand is the same production system
that is standard issue with the U.S. Armed Forces.
The U.S. has rigorously evaluated this system with developmental,
operational, and production testing. During field testing,
the system encountered more than 10,000 mine targets and
over 50,000 pieces of clutter in widely varied environmental
conditions in nine test arenas around the world. This
system underwent field testing with five different humanitarian
demining teams from Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, and
Thailand before beginning humanitarian mine action operations.
Several partners from the International Test and Evaluation
Program for Humanitarian Demining (http://www.itep.ws/)
to include Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom, joined the United States in testing HSTAMIDS
with humanitarian deminers for the Humanitarian Demining
field evaluations and demonstrations in Southeast Asia
and Africa.
During this particular series of field tests, the HSTAMIDS
encountered over 2,000 mine targets and 4,600 pieces of
clutter. Although the tests were extremely challenging
-- 15 different mine types, two-thirds of which were low
metallic -- the newly trained HSTAMIDS operators significantly
outperformed experienced metal detector operators. The
metal detectors employed in these tests are currently
in wide use throughout the mine action community.
Based on HSTAMIDS performance and feedback from the
newly trained operators following the worldwide tests,
The HALO Trust, Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) and
MgM (Menschen gegen Minen) urged the U.S. Department of
Defense to accelerate the operational employment and evaluation
of the system into mine clearance programs. In response
to these requests, the United States constructed permanent
HSTAMIDS training facilities in Cambodia, Afghanistan,
and Thailand. These facilities are bases of operation
that provide operator training in actual environments
and realistic threat conditions. The United States then
provided training to The HALO Trust and to MAG (Mines
Advisory Group) at The HALO Trust’s headquarters
in Siem Reap, Cambodia in the Spring of 2006.
Following the training, The HALO Trust employed HSTAMIDS
as its primary sensor at Bueng Trakoun West 4 in the K-5
mine belt within Banteay Menchey Province on April 22,
2006. On June 11, 2006, The HALO Trust identified Bueng
Trakoun West 4 clear of mines and shifted HSTAMIDS operations
to two other minefields. By mid-August, 2006, HSTAMIDS
found all of the mines and correctly identified 85% of
the harmless clutter. In five different minefields of
varying conditions, HSTAMIDS found 569 mines comprised
of 9 different mine types, while rejecting over 54,000
pieces of clutter. Individual HSTAMIDS operator clearance
rates are approaching 200 square meters per day, which
would provide more than a six-fold increase in productivity.
Current plans call for expanding HSTAMIDS operations to
other areas of operation within Cambodia.
HSTAMIDS performed equally well in Afghanistan where
the environmental conditions, mine threat, clutter and
mine density in Afghanistan were markedly different than
in Cambodia. In Afghanistan, HSTAMIDS rejected over 24,300
pieces of clutter where the clutter density was significantly
higher than in Cambodia. After six weeks of operations
in the rock strewn fields near Karizi Mir, the HSTAMIDS
correctly identified 95% of all clutter which projects
to a 645% increase in productivity.
Finally, the U.S. completed HSTAMIDS training to deminers
within the Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) at the training
facilities in Sakaew Province, Thailand. HSTAMIDS operations
began in conjunction with mechanical ground preparation
technologies at the end of June 2006 in densely vegetated
areas.
Thus far, operators employing only seven HSTAMIDS have
already cleared more than 60,200 square meters, which
includes data collection and verification. In addition,
The HALO Trust HSTAMIDS operators have accurately discriminated
more than 78,400 pieces of harmless clutter in six different
minefields. The results in this initial phase of HSTAMIDS
employment as the first production dual sensor detector
in demining operations are truly outstanding, but not
unexpected. That is because they were achieved by a program
with a systematic approach which, before fielding:
