Land Mine Detection: DoD's Research Program Needs a Comprehensive Evaluation Strategy
Abstract
Recent U.S. military operations, such as those in the Balkans, have shown that land mines continue to pose a significant threat to U.S. forces. U.S. land mine detection capabilities are limited and largely unchanged since the Second World War. A U.S. military that now uses million dollar cruise missiles, tens of million dollar aircraft, and billions of dollar ships still generally detects land mines with a metal detector and a probe. The Department of Defense (DOD) has an extensive research program aimed at developing new detectors to improve its capabilities. Improving DOD s land mine detection capability is a challenging technological issue. Because of the threat that land mines pose to U.S. armed forces, you requested that we assess the abilities of competing technological options to address DOD s mission needs for land mine detection. Specifically, our objectives were to determine whether DOD (1) employs an effective strategy for identifying and evaluating the most promising land mine detection technologies and (2) is investing in the most promising technologies to fully address mission needs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA388634
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office