Protection of Light Skinned Vehicles Against Landmines - A Review,
Abstract
The Australian Army currently fields Landrover vehicles, Unimog troop transports and Mack trucks that do not include any form of armour protection, known generically as Class B' vehicles. This document is a review and summary of the state-of-the-art in protection of this family of vehicles against the threat from landmines. The approach taken has been to focus on the experience of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, primarily during the Rhodesian Bush War of 1972-80. This has the advantages of extensive combat data, it is from a scenario similar to that which the Australian Army could experience during short warning conflict or UN missions, and vehicles common with the Australian fleet (Landrover, Unimog) were employed. Limited data is drawn from other sources where appropriate. depending on the degree of protection pursued. Body modiication whereby a mine resistant hull is added to the chassis of existing vehicles. Though the cost of this measure is moderate for the level of protection attainable, some investment and plaruting would be necessary prior to field deployment. Monocoque construction in which a chassis-less mine resistant body is used to maximise blast dissipation and deflection - high to very high level protection is attainable. High volume production runs are necessary to offset manufacturing equipment costs if the monocoque is based on composite materials.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA329952
Entities
People
- Craig Lester
Organizations
- Defence Science and Technology Group