Deployed Engineers Provide Mine Clearing Support

  • Published
  • By Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
  • AFRL/ML
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Two materials engineers from AFRL's Airbase Technologies Division deployed to Operation ENDURING FREEDOM to provide robotic system support and training. Air Combat Command and US Central Command Air Forces requested this in-country support for the Mine Area Clearance Equipment (MACE) prototype, a robotic mine clearing system based on Danish heavy equipment manufacturer Hydrema's 910
MCV-2 mine flail system. The AFRL engineers provided system support and training for 3 weeks at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.

AFRL engineers converted a man-in-the-seat vehicle to a remotely controlled configuration that removes military personnel from dangerous mine clearing situations and improves driving and position accuracy. The system incorporates a high-end differential Global Positioning System (GPS) that provides operators more precise vehicle control and enables them to receive positioning feedback, ensuring more accurate area coverage and higher confidence in clearing affected locations.

AFRL's Advanced Robotics Team employed the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems to develop MACE, which operates via radio frequency using an AFRL-developed joystick controller, a laptop computer, and an operator control station that houses the Ethernet and power for the system. Engineers completed the programming necessary for sending and receiving the required signals and messages over a 9-month period.

AFRL's engineers spent 3 weeks in the field teaching military personnel how to operate the successfully converted system. They performed their initial operational demonstration in an area from which Army mine clearance vehicles had previously cleared 117 explosives. The demonstration team used MACE and its GPS grid-plotting capabilities to detonate 17 additional land mines in a 50 x 100 ft area. After the
initial demonstration, the engineers enhanced the system's GPS capabilities by configuring the waypoints for the area to be cleared. They then conducted another MACE demonstration, clearing 44,380 sq ft in 4 hours and successfully detonating 37 additional mines (for a total of 54) in an area that had already been cleared, but not proofed. The vehicle allowed Bagram personnel to reduce the time spent clearing areas and, more importantly, removed vehicle operators from life-threatening circumstances.