U.S. plans new technology to replace landmines

WASHINGTON — Landmines could be replaced by new systems within five years, a new report says.

The report by the National Academies' National Research Council said many, but not all of the U.S. antipersonnel landmines could be replaced by 2006, Washington's target date for signing an international ban.

The report urged funding for alternatives to landmines, but predicted that most of them will have to be retained until new systems can be developed that protect U.S. troops.

"With focused and consistent funding, some alternatives could be ready by the 2006 deadline," George Bugliarello, the chairman of the committee that wrote the report, said. "However, in certain situations, alternatives will not be available until later, and antipersonnel landmines will need to be retained."

Currently, landmines cannot distinguish between friend from foe or combatant from noncombatant. In the Middle East, the United Nations and Arab and Western countries are cooperating to clear southern Lebanon from an estimated 130,000 mines laid by Israel in the 1980s and 1990s.

The report was commissioned by the Pentagon as part of a U.S. effort to find alternatives to landmines before Washington signs any international ban. One alternative found by the committee is the NSD-A, or nonself-destructing alternative system. This detects an intruder in a protected area and allows a soldier to detonate an explosive or allow him to pass.

The problem with the NSD-A is that it contains a battlefield override switch that enables the operator to place the system on autopilot if his unit is about to be overrun by an enemy. With the switch, however, the system would not comply with the convention.

The report cited the Hornet Wide-Area Munition Product Improvement Program as most promising alternative to land mines in the near future. This system would improve upon the existing Hornet WAM system, which is a self-destructing, self-deactivating antitank mine with a large lethal radius and a special device that thwarts enemy foot soldiers from disabling it.

Alternatives to current landmines constitutes part of a campaign in Washington for more funding for U.S. defense research and technology. Last week, a senior U.S. researcher urged Congress to provide funding of at least $10 billion for the Pentagon's Science and Technology Program for fiscal 2002.

Dr. Allan Schell told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that the proposed funds will ensure U.S. military technology superiority and constitute a major impact on the nation's intellectual infrastructure.

"The ability of tomorrow's soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to meet the challenges of an increasingly sophisticated battle space will depend in large measure on the vision of Congress and the administration,'' Schell said. "To address those challenges, we must be prepared to invest in science and technology today."