FAE PT300 D:MINE. The complete, reliable demining vehicle

The PT300 D:MINE is the special vehicle from FAE designed to withstand the most extreme forces. Used all over the world for mine clearing, it is effective against both anti-personnel and anti-tank mines under even the toughest working conditions.

The field of application for the PT300 D:MINE consists, first and foremost, of humanitarian demining. A variety of operations are carried out in the field in order to make the land safe and restore it for civilian use. True demining, which is the clearing of minefields containing anti-personnel or anti-tank landmines. Battle Area Clearance (BAC) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), which consist of removing and neutralizing unexploded ordnance, like bombs, mortar and other munitions. Improvised Explosive Device Disposal (IEDD), or the identification and neutralization of unexploded improvised ordnance, often used in asymmetrical warfare.

The PT300 D:MINE stands out for its versatility. It can be equipped with a demining head or another type of FAE machine, like a forestry mulcher or tiller, a stump cutter or a dozer blade. It also offers a multipurpose front arm, which can be fitted with a manipulator grapple or with a bucket for excavations.

Two types of equipment are used for pure demining: a demining tiller, which has a fixed-tooth rotor, or a demining flail with a rotor of mobile chains. Both strike the ground at a specific depth in order to neutralize mines mechanically, either by destroying the entire mine or detonating it.

For the disposal of “improvised” ordnance, known as IEDD, FAE’s solution is the PT300 D:MINE with the front arm equipped with the manipulator grapple. This configuration allows objects which may contain ordnance, or the ordnance itself, to be moved in complete safety. If equipped with a bucket, the arm can dig to reach deeply buried unexploded ordnance. It also provides a way to create a trench in which the explosives can be inserted for controlled detonation. The multipurpose arm boasts some impressive technical features. Thanks to the rotation system, the arm can not only move in classic excavator style to the front and sides, but can also rotate the excavating bucket or manipulator grapple on its axis. This allows them to be positioned swiftly and accurately in relation to the area being worked on or the object to be handled. The camera system, which consists of fixed or motorized units with a zoom function, gives remote operators an overview of the environment they are working in as well as a clear view of the equipment’s activities. Two independent hydraulic stabilizing feet provide excellent stability during different applications.

For overgrown battle areas, the PT300 D:MINE can be equipped with an FAE forestry mulcher for vegetation clearance. This allows operators using metal detectors, for example, to better pinpoint the location of ordnance, as they can hold the detectors close to the ground. Finally, the PT300 D:MINE can be equipped with a dozer blade to cover the trenches created with the bucket back in again.

When it comes to the technical solutions adopted, the PT300 D:MINE represents the gold standard in its category, and has been tested and certified to meet CWA 15044:2009, the international demining standard. The innovations introduced this year include the possibility of equipping the vehicle and the multipurpose arm with cameras featuring a zoom function which allow operators to get a really close look at the ground, plus the addition of panels built into the front, sides and bottom of the vehicle to protect it against “bounding” mines.

Thanks in part to the new equipment introduced, the FAE PT300 D:MINE is confirmed as a reliable and complete solution offering government agencies, the military, NGOs and organizations operating in active war zones around the world an increasingly effective and efficient product for reclaiming and restoring otherwise dangerous and unusable land and areas to public use.