-Caveat Lector- >From The Electronic Telegraph (UK) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=003038683162729&rtmo=lnklPHPt&atmo=HHHHHH8L&pg=/et/00/9/28/wmine28.html Landmine armed with hopping foot can rearrange itself By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent A HOPPING landmine that can leap up to 30ft in the air and fill gaps left by minefield clearance operations is being developed by the American military. Equipped with a powerful piston-driven foot, ultrasonic sensors and radios, the self-righting mines will be able to detect the distance to neighbouring mines and sense when some are missing. When this happens the remaining mines will be able to hop around until they once more form a regular pattern, covering the original area of the minefield. Military chiefs have asked that this be accomplished within 10 seconds, New Scientist magazine reports today. America has spent £8 million developing the system because it circumvents the Ottawa Convention - which it has pledged to sign in 2006 - which bans anti-personnel landmines. Anti-tank minefields are usually protected by small anti-personnel mines designed to kill and maim soldiers who are trying to clear a path for vehicles. The American Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency decided to develop "intelligent" mines to make anti-tank minefields "self-healing" without using anti-personnel mines. Rush Robinett, who is developing the hopping landmine at the Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said: "I was catching grasshoppers to go trout fishing when I noticed that they jump around in a random fashion, hit the ground in an arbitrary orientation, then right themselves and jump again. "I said to myself, 'I can build a robot that can do that'. Robots with wheels and tracks can't crawl over things more than a fraction of the dimension of their body. A hopping robot can clear things that are 10 to one hundred times its body dimension." Anti-landmine campaigners did not immediately condemn the hopping mine. Mark Hiznay of Human Rights Watch, a pressure group in Washington DC, said the hopping mines would be a good alterative to ordinary devices provided they could not be detonated inadvertently or accidentally. Mr Hiznay said: "The main concern we have is how sensitive the device's fuses are to the unintentional acts of a person. We're asking governments to clarify what physical forces are necessary to set off all types of mines." Tony Howgate, of the Ministry of Defence's Battlefield Engineering Wing, warned that there were problems with the proposed system.He said: "The advantage of mines is that they are cheap, simple and effective. This isn't going to be cheap or simple, and the more complicated it gets, the more unreliable it'll be." <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
