The problems of locating and dealing with landmines have been an ongoing issue since before the time of the Second World War. While some mines can be effectively found using metal detecting equipment, the move toward the use of plastic, particularly for anti-personnel landmines (APL) has made their detection more difficult. At the same time the high rate of false alarms that are generated, particularly in areas that have seen conflict, require an ability to examine the potential landmine so that its nature can be identified. Given that most such targets lie within 20 cm of the surface, this requires an ability to search to this depth and to then uncover the item for visual inspection. As a third corollary to this approach the ability to then neutralize the item remotely would significantly increase the speed of operations, and the safety of the operators. A method is described in which high-pressure waterjets can be used to locate the presence of a plastic APL using the acoustic response to waterjet impact. The mine is then uncovered using a rotating high-pressure waterjet system, which includes a jet pump for soil removal. The mine is then cut into parts by an abrasive waterjet stream, using the same flow rate and pressure as for the first two parts of the process. Refinements in the technology to improve performance, particularly in the detection phase of the operation are described.
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