An/pss-14 Mine Detector

[mcjtom]

Here is a glowing article about a mine detector that reportedly combines 2 technologies.  Does anybody know more about it?  Who makes it? Does it work as advertised? Would it be of use outside of the mine detection context?

 https://asc.army.mil/docs/pubs/alt/current/issue/articles/54_AN-PSS-14_Mine_Detection_System_Offers_Improved_Countermine_Capability_200701.pdf

[Chase Goldman]

It is not made for commercial sale, it was produced for solely for military use by L3, a "defense" contractor dedicated to providing equipment for use by government agencies.

It integrates pulse induction (PI) metal detecting (common in consumer grade metal detectors, especially those used primarily for gold prospecting) with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). 

The latter technology, GPR, is available for non-military, typically industrial, use but is not popular for use by treasure hunters because non-military GPR units are typically prohibitively expensive, heavy/bulky, and not refined for general purpose treasure hunting. They are typically designed for locating sub-surface voids or large-mass buried targets such as utility pipes, conduits, or tanks.  It has limited treasure hunting or archeological use for detecting large treasure caches or buried man-made structures or stone roads.  The military requirement to make GPR compact enough to be used in a hand-held mine detector while incorporating the typical mil-spec environmental durability requirements was probably a significant engineering challenge which probably translates into astronomical per-unit cost for the mine detector that is the subject of the article, making it cost-prohibitive for consumer or even industrial use even if it was offered for non-military use.

One of the most eyebrow raising lines in the linked article was that it had to be "92% successful" to instill confidence by the soldiers.  Are you willing to put your life on the line using a 92% effective mine detector? Hmm.

[mcjtom]

While (probably) not related to the detector in the first post, it's still about mines...  There is a picture on top of this article.  The detector being used looks to me like a commercial one.  Would anybody recognise what model it might be?

https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/07/09/sappers-risk-their-lives-to-win-ukraine-back-inch-by-inch?utm_medium=social-media.content.np&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=editorial-social&utm_content=discovery.content

[mcjtom]

My bet is on this one:

https://www.questmetaldetectors.com/questpro

Chase was concerned with the 92% 'effectiveness' (whatever this actually means) of the USMC one above - with PI and GPR optimised to work in concert to detect  landmines - would the Quest hobby VLF even have a chance to be useful on the shrapnel-contaminated mine field under fire, I wonder.

[Michael Biggs]

The one in the picture in Ukraine does not have ground penetrating radar.  It could be a Vallon which I know some EOD guys in Ukraine use.  I do not know of anyone currently using hand held GPR in Ukraine right now.  If you want to donate one, I know some people that would be happy to get one.