Converted Tractors Find Place
In Efforts To Remove Mines

FORT A.P. HILL, Va. — Don't try this at home...

Two experimental tractors used powerful rotating cutters to slowly slash their way through a thicket. In January, the same machines will clear vegetation from Cambodian minefields.

The "survivable demining tractors" — four-wheel-drive New Holland tractors that are armored and outfitted with steel wheels — are part of the U.S. government's humanitarian demining program.

A group of foreign journalists based in Washington visited the Caroline County base last week to see the latest demining equipment in action.

``Mines and the threat of mines are a problem throughout the world,'' said Col. Rick Machamer of the Army's Army Materiel Command. He organized the tour.

Thousands of people are maimed or killed by land mines each year. Government and humanitarian agencies estimate that more than 120 million land mines in 70 countries need to be destroyed.

Barbara Ferguson, a reporter for the English-language Arab News, said many of its readers in Arab nations will be relieved to hear about the demining efforts, particularly Egyptians and Jordanians.

Jordan has mines left from its conflict with Israel in 1967, and Egypt still has World War II-era mines to worry about.

``To know that this is available is something people aren't aware of,'' she said.

Many governments and private companies around the world are working on the problem of land mines.

South Africa, which faced mines in battle for many years, is recognized as a leader in demining technology, said Malcolm Brown, a British television reporter covering the tour for the South Africa Broadcasting Corp.

South Africans generally are interested in land mines because they are a major problem in African countries such as Angola and Mozambique, Brown said.

In the United States, President Clinton made humanitarian demining a priority three years ago. He ordered the Department of Defense to develop technology that could be distributed by the State Department to countries in need, including trouble spots such as Bosnia, Afghanistan and Cambodia.

Millions of dollars have been spent on research and development, some of which is being done at Fort Belvoir. A lot of the equipment developed there is tested at Fort A.P. Hill, which has the ranges needed for live and inert mine tests.

America's technological advances will help deminers clear fields faster, said Jason Regnier, an engineer based at Fort Belvoir.

The demining tractors and other similar machines clear a path for deminers to manually detonate mines. Before this equipment was developed, deminers cut vegetation away by hand, sometimes using scissors to cut tall grass, Regnier said.

The tractors also roll over mines, sometimes detonating them, and keep on going. Their steel wheels are designed to absorb the force of larger anti-tank mines. Collapsed wheels are replaced, and the tractor can resume clearing.

Engineers have also converted a Bobcat, normally used for small grading jobs, into a remote-controlled armored sweeper that detonates mines. Air-powered wands used to dig up fiber-optic lines without damaging them are being used to dig to the top of mines. Liquid explosive foam, which looks like shaving cream, is sprayed on mines, then blasting caps are attached and the mines are detonated.

U.S. engineers also are working to improve commercial metal detectors. Much remains to be done, but the work is rewarding, Regnier said.

``It sure beats working on weapons that kill people,'' he said. ``It's a chance to save the world.''