Finmeccanica Demos Mine Clearance Technology

Finmeccanica today demonstrated D-BOX (Demining tool-BOX), a comprehensive solution for mine clearance operations.

Finmeccanica, through its Land and Naval Defence Electronics division, lead the project’s technological innovation component and was responsible for the final demo.

The D-BOX solution, an example of military technology applied to the civilian sector for security purposes, integrates information from a range of instruments and sensors, providing safety-critical information to the operator. The main purpose of the system is to minimise risk, while at the same time increasing efficiency and reducing the costs of mine clearance operations. Previously, it would take a professional in the sector about 8 hours of work to clear 5m2 of land, with results that were not always reliable and precise.

Thanks to D-BOX it is now possible to collect detailed information from a variety of sources, including satellites, drones, thermal video cameras, innovative proximity sensors, antennas and other instruments in the field, and compare it with statistical data to operate more safely in the working area.

Various environmental conditions were recreated during the demo, including desert, wet ground, areas  with thick vegetation and areas hit by explosions. By doing so, the demo accurately reproduced the  conditions and environments in which today’s mine clearance operations tend to take place, with specific reference to Croatia and Sudan.