Liquid High Explosive Testing for Shallow Water Mine Clearing

The U.S. Navy and Marine corps must be prepared to assault beaches laden with land mines and proximate to a region of water ranging from the beach high water mark to a depth of 80 feet which may also be laden with anti-ship mines. An effective method is required to counter this mine threat, which is compatible with naval assault time-lines, existing fleet assets, insensitive munitions requirements, volume and weight restrictions and is cost effective. Olympic Load and Test, Inc. (OLTI) and its parent company C Tech Development Corporation, aB a consequence of significant independent research into the use of binary liquid high explosives have developed a Shallow Water Countermine concept which meets these requirements. OLTI research into the use of liquid high explosives for countarmine operations has resulted in the evolution of an elegantly simple and cost effective approach to clear a beach assault lane of mines. The concept is compatible with existing U.S. Naval fleet assets, and offers an unprecedented level of explosive storage and employment safety. During Phase I, OLTI will perform a series of instrumented underwater explosive tests to provide a database for system design and Phase II large scale testing.