QUICK LOOK SUMMARY
FIFTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
TECHNOLOGY AND THE MINE PROBLEM
NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, MONTEREY, CA
APRIL 22-25, 2002
HONORARY CHAIR: DR. CHESTER W. MCKINNEY, EMERITUS DIRECTOR
APPLIED RESEARCH LABORATORY, U. OF TEXAS
WIDELY ACCLAIMED AS THE FATHER OF ACOUSTIC MINEHUNTING
GENERAL CHAIR: PROF. CLYDE L. SCANDRETT, NPS
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
RADM JOHN D. PEARSON, USN (RET), NPS
ALBERT M. BOTTOMS, CONSULTANT
THEME:
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY TO COUNTER MINES AND THE EXPLOSIVE REMNANTS OF WAR (ERW) ON LAND AND AT SEA
DEDICATED TO Dr. Laurence Hoisington, Principal Technical Advisor (Mine Warfare) in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations 1950-1974 and Dr. George Carrier, Harvard University Emeritus Professor of Applied Mathematics and conscience of Minefield Planning Theory. Both of these giants in our field died in recent months.
HIGHLIGHTS
Three hundred scientists, engineers, military and civilian deminers, and program sponsors from the international communities in Europe and the Pacific and from the US Army, US Marine Corps, and US Navy met in Monterey to share recent results and advances in the technologies that support future countermeasures systems development. It is this mix of attendees that sets this Symposium Series apart from other technical meetings that are held from time to time. The purpose is to encourage communication and the sharing of approaches.
In support of the Symposium purpose, there were approximately 120 technical papers that were evenly divided between naval mine technology and experience and landmines, humanitarian demining (Mine Action), and Unexploded Ordnance UXO) or ERW site remediation.
There were more than 40 non-US nationals from 15 countries in attendance.
Sponsorship: The Symposium Series is hosted by the Naval Postgraduate School with financial underwriting from the Office of Naval Research; the Program Executive Office for Mine and Undersea Warfare; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); and the Pacific Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Private sector sponsorship and support derive from the Society for Counter-Ordnance Technology (SCOT) and the Mine Warfare Association (MINWARA).
Distinguished Guests
LT GEN Robert B. Flowers, USA, Chief of Engineers and Commanding General US Army Corps of Engineers;
Responsibility for land countermine resides in the US Army Corps of Engineers. LT. GEN Flowers described the efforts that the US Army is making to understand the implications of the present "asymetric threat" and to obtain assured mobility in the prevention of mine placement and the maintenance of sustained momentum of operations. Understanding the threat and future tasks also includes operations that bear much similarity with Humanitarian Demining, UXO site remediation, and area clearance that often lie with non-governmental bodies. The US Army is working toward the initial Transformation Force Brigade by 2008. This transformation force element will include both currently available equipment and new, technology-driven systems. The text of General Flowers' remarks will be published in the Symposium PROCEEDINGS.
LTGEN Edward Hanlon, USMC, Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Center, Quantico, VA. (General Hanlon could not attend and was ably represented by his Chief of Marine Corps Requirements, Col. Len Blasiol, USMC.) The US Marine Corps starts the process of looking at Force Modernization and the development of systems requirements by developing agreed-upon concepts of operations. This process is entitled "Concept-based Requirements Process". In turn the building blocks are based on application of Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare in which a part is Ship to Objective Manuever
. A high priority is given to approaches that ensure tactical surprise and "in stride" operations. At the same time there is movement to integrating mine countermeasures operations throughout USMC tactical doctrine. There is much compatibility with the approaches described by LT GEN Flowers, USA, that are being developed by the US Army as it develops its "Transformation Force". The text of Gen Hanlon's message to the Symposium will by published in the Symposium PROCEEDINGS.
Mr Seymour Deitchman, Naval Studies Board - National Research Council
Mr. Deitchman outlined the major recommendations of the recently completed Study of Naval Mine Warfare. These recommendations are in the areas of (1)Establishing Mine Warfare as a major Naval Warfare area; (2) Reestablishing a Naval Mining Capability; (3) Modernizing the dedicated Mine Countermeasures force; (4) Improving the overall integration of the seven organic offshore mine countermeasures systems; (5) Improving the capabilities and clarifying Service responsibilities for inshore countermine warfare operations; and (6) Reducing (ship) vulnerability to sea mine threats. This important Study Report has been widely promulgated and is available from the National Academy of Sciences Press.
Dr. David Heberlein, Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA)
Dr. Heberlein presented the results of a study conducted by IDA for the Office of Naval Research and the United States Marine Corps on Near-term and far-term mine countermeasures requirements and approaches for operations on landing beaches and exits to the objective areas.
RADM Jay Cohen, USN. Chief of Naval Research (RADM Cohen appeared at the Symposium by Video Teleconferencing). RADM Cohen described the vigorous efforts being undertaken in the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to address the urgent operational needs of the US Navy/US Marine Corps to have the capability to conduct power projection operations in the littoral (shallow water/surf-zone environments as well as to strengthen and integrate the emergent capabilities that will modernize the organic and dedicated components of the US Navy's mine countermeasures suite. As in the land applications summarized
above, there is a premium placed on increased speed and maneuverability along with recognition of the potentials offered by unmanned vehicles and networked communications, command, and control capabilities.
RADM Paul D. Ryan, USN, Commander, US Navy Mine Warfare Command
RADM Ryan has recently assumed his command. He began by pointing out that the increasing proliferation of mines around the world and the emerging technical capabilities in mine countermeasures systems combine to make naval mine warfare an exciting and challenging field. As a person with immediate operational responsibilities, RADM Ryan stressed readiness activities and described the Navy's interest in exploiting "ships of opportunity" - particularly as platforms for mine countermeasures operations support.
Edward Salazar, PhD, Counselor to the US
Ambassador to NATO
Dr. Salazar discussed NATO Demining Initiatives in policy and in cooperative funding for Humanitarian Demining Projects in Europe and Central Asia. Lacking today are efficient mechanisms for the development/funding of Demining Policy.
LT GEN Robert Gard, USA (Ret), PhD, Consultant to the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF)
Dr. Gard discussed the initiatives of the VVAF and the International Committee of the Red Cross to reduce the number of Explosive Remnants of War (duds). There are a number of inexpensive manufacturing changes that can reduce current self-neutralizing reliability rates from the 80% range to about 99
%. On a world-wide basis casualties to ERW exceed those from anti-personnel landmines. There are protocols under consideration by the Nations that will address this problem.
Dr. E. Lawrence Saiers, Vice-President RONCO Corp (A principal Humanitarian
Demining contractor for the US Department of State).
Dr. Saiers briefly addressed the Annual Meeting of SCOT. He described RONCO activities and provided operational insights from the field in Afghanistan regarding the capabilities and limitations of flails and mechanical devices now being employed as area clearance tools. He noted the great value of dogs in reconnaissance
and proofing.
Dr. David Burnett, SACLANT Research Center, La Spezia, Italy Dr. Burnett represented the Director of the SACLANTCEN, RADM Spoel
stra, Netherlands Navy (Ret), by providing an overview of the SACLANTCEN program. Dr. Burnett then discussed his work with finite element analyses in improving the classification capabilities of acoustic detectors.
Dr. Rick Spinrad, Technical Director for the Oceanographer of the Navy
Dr. Spinrad provided an overview of the considerable efforts that are underway to provide useful environmental data to the mine countermeasures forces.
Technical ContentA principal value of Symposia such as this one is the opportunity presented for "networking" and technical discussion, among peers, of the issues, approaches, and results in the component areas of investigation. The papers that were presented will be found in the PROCEEDINGS of the Symposium that will be placed at the two websites, www.demine.org and www.minwara.org.
Every effort will be made to post these PROCEEDINGS on or before June 1, 2002.
Papers from the Symposium that have been subject to technical review will also be found in the Journal of Counter-Ordnance Technology along with other technical contributions that are submitted for review. The SCOT Journal is expected to appear two or three times a year on the SCOT website at http://www.demine.org/SCOT/
a. Subject Overviews
At this Symposium distinguished investigators were invited to present overviews or status reports concerning a number of the important constituent areas of technology that are being exploited in the attack on the "mine/UXO problem" on land and at sea. This series of review papers constitutes in and of itself a text on the subject of the technologies of the mine problem. From time-to-time additional "chapters" in this text will be added. This group of Review Papers will be published in the PROCEEDINGS in a separate section.
The initial topics and speakers are as follows.
(1) Topics in Land Mine Technology, Dr. Tom Altshuler, DARPA; (2)Sea Mine Developments, Mr. Bill Jones, CSS; (3)Attribute Sensors, Dr George Vourvopoulis; Western Kentucky University; (4) Optical Sensors, Dr. Joan Cleveland, ONR; (5) Technical Aspects of Fuzes and Explosives, Mr. R.G. Sewall, Former Naval Weapons Center; (6) Status Report: A Lobster-Based Robot for shallow water mine countermeasures, Dr. Joseph Ayers, Northeastern University; (7) AUV Power and Endurance, Dr Thomas G. Hughes, PennState University; (8) Magnetics, Dr. Carl Schneider, USNA; (9) High Resolution Sonar, Dr. John Huckabay, University of Texas; (10) Sensor Processing and Fusion, Dr. Gary Carriveau, SAIC, San Diego.
b. Technical Sessions
The Technical Sessions are the heart of any Symposium. At this FIFTH Symposium the following Technical Sessions were organized and executed by the Chairs and Co-Chairs. Some subjects required Sessions on successive days and were, in effect, mini-symposia. The 120 Technical Papers were distributed among the following Technical Sessions listed along with their Chairs and Co-Chairs.
(1) Government-Industry Forum, RADM Charles F. Horne, USN (Ret). Although not, strictly speaking, a technical session; this forum has been a popular event at the NPS Symposia. Opportunity is provided in this Forum for frank exchange between and among Industry leaders and Flag and General Officers (Program Sponsors). At this Forum it is possible to raise issues or focus on aspects of the acquisition process that are counter-productive to the best interests of the Forces Afloat.
(2) Sea Environment, Dr. Herb Eppert, NRL-Stennis and Dr. Ed Thornton, NPS.
Several papers in this session discussed the obtaining of environmental data, in situ, for support of operations.
(3) Land Environment, Dr. James Sabatier, University of Mississippi and Night Vision Laboratory, Ft. Belvoir.
The use of seismic acoustic approaches suggest a potential "confirmation Tool".
(4) Optical Sensors, Dr. Joan Cleveland, ONR, and Dr. R. Norris Keeler, Direct Technologies, Inc.
This subject area attracted nearly 20 high quality papers. In effect, Dr. Cleveland, assisted by Dr. Keeler, conducted a mini-symposium on electro-optical processes in the ocean.
(5) UXO Site Remediation Issues, Mr. Bob Smith, Parsons, and Dr. Christopher Penny, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic Division
We are particularly grateful to Col John Selstrom, USAF, the OSD point of contact for UXO in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, for sharing DoD policy regarding environmental clean-up objectives, This session developed the scope of the substantive risk management issues and the roles of the stakeholders.
(6) Acoustic Sensors, Dr. Darrel Jackson, U. of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory and Dr. Ralph Goodman, NRL-Stennis (Dr. Goodman was unable to attend).
The papers in this session reflect the increasing concern with shallow water operations and operations from autonomous platforms.
(7) Chemical/Biochemical Sensors, Prof. Nathan S. Lewis, CALTECH, and Dr. Ron Woodfin, Consultant(formerly Sandia National Laboratory)(Professor Lewis was unable to attend). The Nomadics application of chemical detection technology is proving effective explosives detection
at very low concentrations.
(8) Electromagnetic Detectors, Dr. Steve Azevedo, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Dr. Carey Rappaport, Northeastern University
The papers in this session concentrated on Ground Penetrating Radar and Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance techniques.
(9) Biological and Biomimetric Systems, Dr. Joseph Ayers, Northeastern University, and Dr. Sam Ridgway, Naval ocean Systems Center
Biomimicry is being followed in the development of vehicles patterned after lobsters, lampreys, and snakes. In the water, substantial progress has occurred in the effort to develop and build a man-made dolphin sonar.
(10) Risk Management and Neutralization of Mines/UXO Dr. James Putnam, NAVFACPAC,
Progress continues in the single largest UXO site remediation project in the world. The Kaho'olawe Site Remediation project in Hawaii is moving into the "end-game" even as the major efforts at Fort Ord and Vieques begin.
(11) Sensor Processing/Fusion, Dr. Gary W. Carriveau, SAIC San Diego
Concentration is on multi-spectral and hyper-spectral fusion as well as upon the fuzing of data from detectors that employ different physical principles.
12) Reconnaissance and Surveillance, Dr. John Huckabay, University of Texas, Applied Physics Laboratory, and Dr. Dave Tubridy, Coastal Systems Station (CSS)
The papers deal with signal processing and in-situ measurements with present fleet equipment..
(13) Field Experience (Land), Dr Stephen Stewart, James Madison University, and Dr. Robert Suart, Canadian Centre for Mine Action Technologies In this session, reality and urgency come together as focus shifts
to actual humanitarian demining experience in Chad and elsewhere. Colin King presented some seminal work on field observations of the effects of ageing on mine and UXO explosives and fuzes. Some of the material in this session may well become the basis of sessions at the Brussels Meeting in 2003
14) Nuclear Sensors, Dr George Vourvopoulis, Western Kentucky University Field res
ults were shown for miniature nuclear sensors. These are still confirmation sensors with rather short ranges.
(15) Robotic Applications and Remote Sensors, Dr, Tony Healey, NPS, and Dr. Doug Todoroff, ONR
Robotic AUV are shown to perform militarily useful tasks at the AUV Fest last year. There is progress since the First Symposium and widespread interest in the development of ancillary capabilities of command and control.
Symposium Staff are working diligently to complete the CD_ROM PROCEEDINGS and mail them to participants. Additional copies will be available at nominal cost from DMC Companies, 824 Munras Ave (Suite C) Monterey, CA 93940. Tel. (831)373.0508. (Attn. Carol Killip). In addition, the Refereed Papers have been put on the website at www.demine.org in the SCOT Journal. The rest of the PROCEEDINGS will follow as a separate posting when available.
c. Papers of Merit
An innovation at this Symposium was to identify four submitted papers to be designated papers of merit and to provide opportunity for the material to be presented in Plenary Session. The criteria for selection included technological or scientific quality, originality, potential as enabling technology, and breadth or applicability of results. The selection was very difficult because of the excellence of submittal. The papers chosen are:
Dr. Nicholas P. Chotiros, Applied Research Laboratory, University of Texas "Sonar Coverage Mapping"";
Joseph Rice, Naval Postgraduate School, "Autonomous Sensors and network-centric undersea weaponry";
Dr. James Sabatier, U. of Mississippi "Linear and Non-Linear Acoustic Velocity Profiles over Buried Mines";
Dr. Andre Kuznetsov, Khlopin Radium Institute, Russia "Combined Sensor for Detection of Explosives Based on Timed Neutron Source and Continuous Microwaves".
Rappateur's Comment
The papers at the Symposium again illustrated an important aspect of the interaction between the "operator" or user and the technical community. Guests such as LT GEN Flowers and LT Gen Hanlon provide a general statement of the problem. That problem statement is couched in operational terms that may not map very well with what might be thought of as a technical description of the need. It is up to the technical community to parse the requirements statements into a set of what in mathematics is termed a "well-posed set of problem statements - statements that suggest the avenues for technical solution”. Papers such as were provided by Seymour Deitchman and David Heberlein represent an intermediate approach to the translation of the general requirements statements into more specific
statements that suggest technical approaches. It is then up to the technical communities to carry out a further transformation to describe the specific technical parameters that serve as surrogates for the more general operational statements of need. This is the process of problem identification and solving and usually rewards patient pursuit.
The five symposia at NPS have showcased a great deal of new, interesting, and relevant technology that can be applied to the mine problem on land and at sea. Much of this technology is still at the "proof of concept" or 6.2 stage of exploratory development. It remains, in most cases, to take the technology to possible system levels, to evaluate performance, and to determine relative cost-effectiveness among the possible approaches. That the process of the development cycle is slow and tedious does not in any way detract from the high urgency of finding technology-based solutions to the seemingly intractable mine problem.
Urgency and Realism. Again at this FIFTH Symposium,a degree of complacency is detectable
that is not supported by the situation on land or at sea. There seems to be a lack of awareness by technology developers of the realities of mine clearance/humanitarian demining operations and processes. The high rates of failure in the introduction of new approaches is due in large measure to the failure to understand the user's needs and constraints - including the non-availability of trained maintenance and repair technicians in the field. Premature introduction of technology in any kind of operational environment carries a burden of opportunity cost that includes the prejudicing of subsequent efforts to introduce technology- based methods. However, those concerns that argue for a conservative approach to the deployment of technology-based solutions must be off-set by the immediate need.
The technical problems on land and at sea are of high difficulty bordering on intractable. Much is at risk if we fail. And,
in the words of Professor Jean-Daniel Nicoud of Lausanne, Switzerland, "There still must be something better than a child's foot to find a landmine".
Some Future Opportunities
Please watch the websites at www.demine.org and www.minwara.org
for announcements of future meetings. SCOT will also establish hyperlinks with the James Madison Mine Action Information Center website.
September 2003 Brussels (SCOT) Tentative
March 2004 Canberra or Sydney THIRD Joint Australian American Conference on te Technology of Mine Countermeasures (Tentative)
These Conferences and Symposia occupy a technology niche that is not duplicated by other major conference series. We complement those other efforts.