Report on the Mine Clearing Rake Test

BACKGROUND Interest has been expressed in seeing the Mine Clearing Rake MCR included in the tool box offered to organizations for application in humanitarian demining HD missions. Given that there is no track record of operational utilization of the MCR by HD organizations, the U.S. Armys Humanitarian Demining Program Manager HD PM, under the U.S. Armys Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate NVESD located at Ft. Belvoir, VA, undertook the task to conduct an operational evaluation test of the MCR. 2. PURPOSE The purpose of the operational evaluation test was to assess the ability of the MCR to enhance the effectiveness of a humanitarian demining mission. To this end, the HD PM purchased an MCR and initiated the testing process. 3. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS The test was designed to assess the ability of the MCR to uncover and lift mines from two different demining environments. The first, designated as Test Site 1, was a vegetation-covered rolling field of sandy loam soil. Test Site 2 was a desert environment of level sand. While there were claims that the MCR would work against anti-tank mines, the test was limited to assess performance against anti-personnel mines, by far the largest threat faced by humanitarian deminers. The two guidelines followed while developing the test protocols were design the test to assess the MCRs capabilities, and, to remove any obstacle from the test environment that might degrade the MCRs performance, by equipment normally found in a humanitarian demining organization.