DRDO unit develops mine detection, deactivation technology
16 Sep 2017
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has announced the development of a technology for the detection and deactivation of land mines in battle zones, to meet the operational requirements of the Indian Army.
The technology, known as the 'Trawl System', has been designed and developed by R&D Engineers, a premier system engineering laboratory under the Armament and Combat Engineering (ACE) cluster of the DRDO, says a defence ministry release.
The indigenously-developed Trawl System is capable of breaching land mines and creating a vehicle safe lane through a minefield for the advancing columns of mechanised forces in combat zone.
The equipment consists of Trawl roller, track width mine plough and electro- magnetic device (EMD) that caters to the needs of all types of mines usually encountered by the battle tank in such a scenario.
The Trawl System developed by DRDO is capable of breaching a variety of land mines, including passive and active influence mines.
The system recently crossed a major milestone with the successful completion of blast trials in collaboration with HEMRL Pune, which demonstrated the survivability of the equipment, when subjected to successive series of blast directly underneath it.
The deployable prototype of the Trawl System is in final stage of realisation and would be shortly ready for conduct of user evaluation trials by the Army, says a DRDO release.
The indigenous development of Trawls by DRDO is an important step towards achieving self-reliance in area of critical military equipment under 'Make in India' initiative and would result in saving of precious foreign exchange for the country, the release added.
