In a 2001 survey, 530 communities in 27 provinces and more than 500,000 people were identified as affected by landmines and ERW in Thailand. Three quarters of the contaminated area, estimated to be as high as 2.557 square kilometers, is along the 700 kilometer border with Cambodia due to guerilla fighting in the 1980s and 1990s. Border areas with Burma, Laos, and Malaysia are also affected. Mines and ERW restrict access to forest, farming and grazing lands, and water sources.

Sources: Landmine Monitor Report, 2006

UNI-DISK

The Uni-Disk is a commercial excavator, modified with armor and various attachments used to clear heavily vegetated, wooded, and hard-to-reach areas such as those along bridges, roadsides, and embankments. The attachments include a vegetation clearing Shinn cutter, a commercial off-the-shelf Rotar sifting bucket, and a standard bucket for use in general construction activities.

PARTNERS: Thailand Mine Action Center

PECO CUTTER

A commercially available brush cutter, the Peco Cutter has a 120 cm cutting width that can handle light to medium vegetation. With tracks for steering ability and traction, the Peco Cutter's low weight and small size make it easy to transport and support. The Peco Cutter is controlled by a standardized remote control system.

PARTNERS: Thailand Mine Action Center

TEMPEST

The Tempest is an affordable, remote-controlled, multi-purpose mechanical system capable of clearing medium vegetation, reducing metal debris, eliminating tripwires, and engaging the ground to initiate landmines in anti-personnel minefields. It uses an interchangeable cutting flail and slasher to clear vegetation, and a ground engagement flail to prepare the land for manual demining. Integrated and independent magnet arrays are added to remove metallic debris from the soil's surface, reducing the false alarms of follow-on detection technologies.

PARTNERS: Mines Advisory Group - Cambodia, Thailand Mine Action Center, National Demining Center of Ecuador

SURVIVABLE DEMINING TRACTOR & TOOLS

The Survivable Demining Tractor & Tools (SDTT) is one of the first success stories of the Humanitarian Demining R&D Program. The modified commercial tractor, fitted with armor plating and optional steel wheels, uses specialized implements to clear heavily vegetated areas and to support demining operations ranging from area preparation to quality assurance. The tools include heavy vegetation cutters, cultivators, rear-mounted slasher, front loader with rake, roller, magnet, and tree extractor capable of pulling trees 20 centimeters in diameter from the soil. 

PARTNERS: Thailand Mine Action Center

AIR-SPADE

The Air-Spade uses compressed air at supersonic velocities to rapidly excavate soil, providing a safer alternative to manual mine and UXO excavation. The Air-Spade exerts less than 2 pounds of force on smooth objects such as UXO and mines. The Air-Spade's air-jet, water-jet, vacuum, and vegetation tools ease excavation in difficult soil conditions and provide operators with additional safety by increasing the standoff distance.

PARTNERS: Chilean National Demining Commission, Thailand Mine Action Center, The HALO Trust - Angola

BEAVER

The Beaver is a small, remote controlled vegetation clearance system. It consists of a diesel-powered, tracked vehicle with several attachments and an operator's control vehicle that protects the operator. Attachments include vegetation cutter, electro-magnet, excavating bucket, debris blower, and pneumatic excavator. The Beaver's tracked chassis is designed to operate in difficult terrain and is armored for protection against anti-personnel mine detonations.

PARTNERS: Thailand Mine Action Center