Landmines have become a major problem world-wide. Different ideas and devices are designed worldwide to detect or detonate landmines. Some of these devices are more effective than others and vary in mass, cost and protection of personnel.

The landmine (anti-tank mine, tank mine, vehicle mine or anti-vehicle mine) made its first appearance at the end of World-War-I, developed by the Germans to combat the tank.

South Africa had to design and develop its own system to overcome its landmine problem due to sanctions during the eighties.

The system is called THE-MEERKAT-MOBILE-MINE-DETECTION-SYSTEM and consists of a leading vehicle, a tractor with three trailers, two Red-Packs and a Blue-Pack. It was developed and proven in combat and also tested to NATO standards. The system can detect all metallic mines, detonate non-metallic mines not detected by the vehicles and can be deployed on a 24-hour basis. If required, the system can be tele-operated, eliminating the danger of people coming in direct contact with the land mines.

The first vehicle in the system is the Mine Detection Vehicle (MDV) called the 'Meerkat'. It is a rear wheel drive vehicle designed for both on and off road use. It is fitted with mine detection pans that can be raised pneumatically when not in use to prevent unnecessary damage to the pans.

The Towing Mine Detection Vehicle (T/MDV) called the 'Husky', is designed with a dual purpose, as a tractor to pull the trailers and as a back-up mine detection vehicle. It is a 4 x 4 vehicle for use both on and off road.

The Mine Detonation Trailers (MDT) called the 'Duisendpoot', are designed to detonate the mines not detected by the two vehicles. Six different axle lengths enable the trailers to cover the width of the road.

A Spare Wheel Module and Towing Frame called the Redpack is a set of mobile spare parts consisting of front and rear module frames complete with axles, steering gear and propshafts, loose spares including spare detector heads, the lifing equipment and spare wheels required by the operator to repair mine blast damage in the field in the minimum amount of time. This is an essential element of the success of the system.

The 'Blue-pack' is a container with all secondary parts like a spare engine and major maintenance parts required for the vehicles.

The 'Red-pack' and the 'Blue-pack' ensure that the system can always be fixed in the least amount of time under battlefield conditions without returning to base.

DCD-DORBYL