UK airships against minefields.

I was trying to find some airship-awacs projects on Google , because I am interested for future airship aplications and I found this. This is not AWACS of course but I think it is interesting too.
It's called Mineseeker and it was made by UK.
It is "airship-based mine detection system, which uses optical and electro-optical surveillance systems and ground penetrating radar to identify minefield areas and to detect mines". It was trialed in Kosovo and it was able to search and map 100sq meters of minefield per second. Pretty impressive if you ask me. Please note that "trained deminers equipped with probes, who clear 40m² of mined area per day" so this metod is thousands times faster.

Now closer look at the sensors - they include camer with both daylight and IR mode, but the cooles thing is the Ultra Wideband Synthetic Aperture Radar able to "see" underground. The best thing is it can detect also small burried plastic mines (almost undetectable by other methods) by locating the internal air pockets in those mines. It's amazing how advanced is todays radar technology.

link

UK inginuity wins again. But the Yanks will by the patent and sell it by the bucket load which is what usually happens to british inventions....

Better put that thing in a helicopter or else someone with a rifle can take that thing down.
How high does it fly, and is it affected by weather conditions?

Originally posted by WestPoint23

Better put that thing in a helicopter or else someone with a rifle can take that thing down.
How high does it fly, and is it affected by weather conditions?

It was designed to remove minefields in "peacemaker" conditions that means after the war actions took place. It could be great for mines removing in contries like Kosovo, South east Asia, Africa etc. where is still a lot of mines left.
Also the helium is under low pressure that means even if you make a hole in the airship the gas will leak for days.
Helicopters are not the best for such tasks because of payload limitations and vibrations. Also the are much more expensive to operate.

Of course it caelo.nnot fly in storm, but so can't h

An airship is such a good choice. It's able to stay above the minefield area until all the mines have been found. But what happens once it's found them, some poor sap still has to go in there on his belly to disarm it!!

Here's a thought, could they not hook the map to say a laser, which could (maybe) then use the map to target the mines before distroying them.

A laser strong enough to penetrate the ground to burn the mine would be expensive and very heavy and very big it would not fit in the air ship. Plus even the most powerful lasers today have a hard time penetrating the ground.

^^ i dunno if it will destroy the mines, but tracking them is 80% of the job done. my guess is that it will be low flying too.

It was developed by Qinetiq to use their synthetic apeture radar (meaning the patent will most definatly not be going to the US). It doesnt destroy the mines but maps them allowing for their easier removal.

[edit on 11-4-2005 by paperplane_uk]

That's pretty cool technology there, I didn't know that radar had gotten this far yet. Though I must say with the advancements of radar like this coming up I don't see why there is so much hype about stealth, how long before somebody works that out too?

C'mon show some brains ground penetrating radar is not new, it has been used in the artic poles long before this came out, this is probably more advanced but same principals. And ground penetrating radar has nothing to do with locating stealth aircraft.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
A laser strong enough to penetrate the ground to burn the mine would be expensive and very heavy and very big it would not fit in the air ship.

But as a bonus, you'd also get baked potatoes on the side!

Originally posted by WestPoint23
C'mon show some brains ground penetrating radar is not new, it has been used in the artic poles long before this came out, this is probably more advanced but same principals. And ground penetrating radar has nothing to do with locating stealth aircraft.

But has anyone went tactical to practical with that tech?
No thats why its soo good. Are you just against it because its so simple?

But has anyone went tactical to practical with that tech?
No thats why its soo good. Are you just against it because its so simple?

What are you Hunter Ellis all of a sudden?
I know, kudos to the guy who though of putting it on an airship.

[edit on 11-4-2005 by WestPoint23]

Originally posted by WestPoint23
What are you Hunter Ellis all of a sudden?

I know, kudos to the guy who though of putting it on an airship.
[edit on 11-4-2005 by WestPoint23]

Nope just watched it a few times before the channel dissapeared grr stupid telewest..

Its off the air here too because I think they are filming a new season. And you guys get the History Channel in the UK?

sorry for double post

[edit on 12-4-2005 by paperplane_uk]

the radar is advanced because it will pick up plastic mines of less than 10cm diameter buried deep underground from an ariel position (yes ground penetrating radar has been around for a while, but till now had to be in contact with the ground to work [not much use in a minefield])

www.mineseeker.com...
www.airforce-technology.com...
www.rotarnet.com.au...

Originally posted by paperplane_uk
...yes ground penetrating radar has been around for a while, but till now had to be in contact with the ground to work ...

Are you sure? I heard B-2 Spirit has radar with underground maping capability too (against soviet nuclear silos and other critical underground targets).



[edit on 12-4-2005 by longbow]

ok all declassified ground penetrating radars........

The B-2 seems to have everything on it!

If they know where the mines are tehn the Zeus Humvee can easily go in, use the laser and destroy them. It speeds up the whole process so much more. Which is a good thing, we need to get rid of the landmines that can kill children or innocent people.