August 28,
2008: India is improving its mine clearing
capabilities. It is upgrading at least six of its 1980s era Russian mine
sweepers to mine hunters, at a cost of about $8 million each. This will enable
the refurbished mine warfare ships to seek out and destroy the most modern
naval mines. At the same time, India is buying several units of the AMAS
(Australian Minesweeping System). Each AMAS unit consists of several floats
carrying electronic equipment that simulates the magnetic presence of a target
ship and detonates naval mines that are triggered by sensing the metal of a
ship passing overhead.
Australia
has already exported AMAS to the United States, Denmark, Poland, Japan, UAE,
Indonesia and Thailand. AMAS was used in
2003 to clear mines from Iraqi ports.
