page_title: Mine flail
section_title: Modern use
hierarchical_section_title: Mine flail / Modern use
caption_attribution_description: English: Spc. Adam Augusta, from the U.S. Army’s 769th Engineers from Louisiana, waits for further instructions over the radio for clearing dangerous areas with the Hydrema mine clearing vehicle at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Augusta halted operations due to aircraft operating in the vicinity. The Hydrema cannot operate at the same time as air operations because of the dust it creates. August 2002Dansk: Hydrema minerydder får en pause i Bagram Air Base i Afghanistan, da minerydningen frembringer så meget støv at det generer lufttrafikken
context_page_description: A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a mine-field by deliberately detonating land mines in front of the vehicle that carries it. They were first used by the British during World War II.
  The mine flail consists of a number of heavy chains ending in fist-sized steel balls that are attached to a horizontal, rapidly rotating rotor mounted on two arms in front of the vehicle. The rotor's rotation makes the flails spin wildly and violently pound the ground. The force of a flail strike above a buried mine mimics the weight of a person or vehicle and causes the mine to detonate, but in a safe manner that does little damage to the flails or the vehicle.
context_section_description: Mine flails continue to be used, although their role has changed. During World War II, they were used in combat to clear paths through a defender's mine-field during a large-scale assault. The modern equivalents are used both by armies and by non-military organisations engaged in humanitarian demining. Unlike their World War II predecessors, modern mine flails are not intended for use in combat areas; they are unarmed and only carry the armour necessary to protect the operator from mine explosions. Many modern mine-flail vehicles are intended to destroy only anti-personnel mines and receive significant damage if they encounter a larger anti-tank mine. Mine flail vehicles that can cope with anti-tank mines tend to be larger, heavier, more cumbersome and more expensive to operate.
  Several designs, such as the Danish Hydrema 910, are based on a truck chassis with an armoured cab and a flail mounted behind on what would otherwise be the cargo space. They are able to drive to the mined site like any other road vehicle. During flailing operations, they slowly drive in reverse over the mine field - in this way, the cab is kept as far as possible from any detonations. Some mine-flail vehicles are operated under remote-control for safety. Vehicles of this type developed by DOK-ING are used worldwide in service with different armies, state agencies, humanitarian organizations and companies. Two main products are the light MV-4 and medium MV-10 types. The Swiss Digger DTR D-250 is a smaller, four ton, remote-controlled vehicle that is more easily moved to remote or inaccessible locations and may be used in more confined areas.
   Tanks are still used to carry flails; examples include the Norwegian Army's Leopard AMCV – a Leopard tank that was modified by Hagglunds to carry an Aardvark flail system. The German Army is equipped with the Keiler Minenräumpanzer Keiler (mine clearing tank "wild boar"), based on a M48 Patton main battle tank. The first of 24 Keilers was supplied to the German Army by Rheinmetall in 1997.
  However, tanks have the disadvantage of having the driver at the front, close to the flail and any explosions, and they can not go slow enough for effective mine clearance. Also, the weight of tanks makes them difficult to transport (by contrast, the 18-ton Hydrema 910 is light enough to be moved by air in a C-130 Hercules.) The tanks used have generally been obsolete models that have been highly modified - some work under remote control, others have had the driver's station moved to the rear. In modern times, there has been little military interest in an updated equivalent of the Sherman Crab or Matilda Scorpion - a substantially unmodified tank still capable of combat. In battle, the modern preference is to detonate mines with explosive devices (mine-clearing line charges), such as the Antipersonnel Obstacle Breaching System or the Giant Viper. During the Gulf War, the U.S. 2nd Marine Division made an attempt to breach an Iraqi mine field with a mine flail mounted on an armored bulldozer. But the flail was destroyed and the bulldozer crippled by an Iraqi anti-tank mine.
  Mine flails have the advantage of being able to clear most mines from an area comparatively rapidly - the manufacturer of the British Aardvark Mark 4 quotes a maximum rate of 3,000 square metres (0.74 acres) per hour, however 600 square metres (0.15 acres) per hour is more usual. Also, flails don't place their operators at significant risk, unlike manual demining.
  However they have come under criticism. They represent a large cost for non government, humanitarian organisations (an Aardvark Mine flail costs around $500,000 US.) They consume a lot of fuel, as a powerful engine is needed to drive the rotor if the flails are to strike the ground with enough force to be effective. Mine flails can be unreliable and require spare parts that are difficult to obtain in remote regions. This leads to high operating costs and possibly lengthy periods when the flails are out of service.
  It is known that flails don't reliably detonate all the mines in the area being sw
caption: Hydrema 910 mine clearing vehicle in Afghanistan.
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