The advent of self-healing mines. (Skeptical Eye).

In the recent war with Iraq, the U.S. military demonstrated its overwhelming technological superiority by attacking Iraqi military positions with extreme accuracy and discretion while attempting to minimize so-called collateral damage (killing civilians). Sophisticated military weapons like stealth airplanes and precision-guided "smart" bombs gave the U.S. military the opportunity to reduce civilian casualties by striking quickly and accurately. As the world watched the conflict unfold on television, it became clear that U.S.-led coalition forces were taking great precautions to minimize the risk of collateral damage. That wasn't a coincidence. Political support for the war dangled precariously on the fickle perceptions of a worldwide audience--an audience with little tolerance for civilian casualties. In spite of the tremendous advances in selective targeting, the U.S. military is at the same time regressing by pursuing a barbaric and outmoded technology: landmines.

Over the past five years, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)--the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense--has developed and tested the concept of a self-healing minefield system. In an attempt to make minefields "smart," DARPA has created a sophisticated high-tech minefield of the future. Unlike traditional "dumb" mines, which contain no computer circuits or communication abilities, the new mines can "talk" with one another through radio waves or sound emissions. Working as a team, the advanced new mines can detect a breach in the minefield and then quickly reposition themselves to fill the gap in order to block the movement of military vehicles.

A minefield is considered "breached" when an opposing army manages to clear a safe path through it. A self-healing minefield, on the other hand, would detect and close any breach immediately because as the mines communicate, their sophisticated onboard software calculates distances between adjacent mines. If the calculated distance between mines is too great, certain mines will take the initiative to fill the gap by propelling themselves into the air and then burrowing under the dirt. Some mine prototypes move by thrust propulsion while others bounce themselves into the air like grasshoppers. Tests confirm the minefield's lethal efficacy, and DARPA will soon deliver the new technology to the U.S. Army for extensive testing.

Landmines remain universally abhorred because they are indiscriminant killers. Despite any U.S. military's attempt to gloss over the inherently brutal purpose for landmines with new "dancing mine" technology, landmines will always be arbitrarily ruthless killers. Mines have no allegiance and no discretion; they kill soldiers and civilians, friend and foe. Even worse, the looming threat from landmines can instill horror and despair for decades as they continue to arbitrarily maim and kill after the fighting officially ends--discouraging the mobility of people and goods and creating a devastating overall drain on the hearts and minds of civilians living in mined regions. According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, landmines are a daily threat to the citizens of dozens of countries including Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Chechnya, Croatia, Iraq, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Somalia. Landmines kill or injure about 70 people every day worldwide and about 26,000 people each year, according to the human rights group One World International.

It seems that the U.S. military can't forgo its old-fashioned weapons. In the face of increasing worldwide activism and widespread public support for a ban on anti-personnel mines, the United States still refuses to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Also known as the Ottawa Convention, the treaty bans the production and use of anti-personnel landmines and has been ratified by 132 countries, with notable exceptions being China, most Middle Eastern nations, and the United States. Notably, in 1994 then President Bill Clinton made a vague pledge to phase out the use of landmines but never followed through by taking action. Since then, the U.S. infatuation with landmines has run counter to the momentum of the international community.

It is important to differentiate between the two major categories of landmines. Anti-personnel mines explode when the weight of a human or animal depress on the detonator, while anti-tank mines require the weight of a vehicle to detonate. However, for anti-tank mines, personnel become a secondary, implied target. Just like anti-personnel mines, antitank mines are cruel indiscriminant killers--they can't differentiate between a tank, tractor, or school bus.

For DARPA, one of the major objectives of the self-healing minefield project is to eliminate the need for anti-personnel mines. Traditional minefield strategy involves mixing anti-tank with anti-personnel mines--the anti-tank mines blow up vehicles while anti-personnel mines make the task of minefield clearing slow and often lethal. According to DARPA, a self-healing minefield eliminates the need for anti-personnel mines because if there is any breach, the minefield will automatically readjust itself. Despite DARPA's stated intentions, critics warn that this lethal military technology is inherently untrustworthy, and some are concerned that self-healing minefield technology could easily be adapted to anti-personnel mines or other nefarious purposes.

When it comes to the ugly topic of landmines, the United States attempts to hold the moral high ground. U.S. soldiers tend to record diligently the location of the mines they lay so that those mines can be later located and disarmed. However, with DARPA's new breed of mobile and autonomous landmine, mapping will be impossible and, once deployed, a self-healing minefield will be virtually impossible to map, much less to disarm. According to DARPA, the new mines won't possess a disable command. Forever poised to kill, the minefield would continually shift and evade minesweepers. After a conflict subsides, U.S. mines will continue to kill and reposition; kill and reposition.

Ironically, landmines run counter to overall U.S. military strategy. Typically, U.S. forces deploy landmines as a defense tactic to slow or deter an invading infantry force. U.S. military strategy, however, is predicated upon its unfettered mobility in and around an area of conflict, and, time after time, U.S. forces have become ensnared in their own mines. The most recent documented account of this was during the 1991 Gulf War when U.S. forces in Kuwait accidentally advanced forward through their own minefield. Landmines caused a surprising 34 percent of U.S. casualties in that conflict.

The new "smart" mines could create new technology problems as well--in order to communicate with one another, the mines must emit some type of signal. An enemy force of reasonable sophistication could easily detect the communication signals, develop a mapping tool, discover chatty mines, and then simply weave a path between them. Since the mines won't move unless they detect a breach, an enemy could continue to use that same narrow pathway. An even more sophisticated adversary could gather up several U.S. "smart" mines and study their behavior in a laboratory. By studying their behavior and communication tendencies, U.S. mines could be hacked or reverse-engineered. A worthy adversary might retrain or reprogram the mines to self-destruct or cluster themselves in a pile, rendering them worthless. Despite the U.S. military's best intentions, a sinister enemy could conceivably reprogram U.S. mines to function as anti-personnel mines.

Landmines are counterproductive to overall U.S. military strategy. The United States' use and development of landmines creates a host of unforeseen problems and its insistence on retaining landmines as weapon of war highlights its hypocrisy and overall lack of commitment to reducing civilian casualties.

David Marcoux is an information security analyst for the U.S. Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., and has a background in software engineering and network communications.