Defusing bombs with water
Published 26 October, 2007, 05:53
Military scientists from the Moscow Region have developed a new technology that would make the job of field engineers much easier. A water-jet scalpel cuts steel within seconds to extract explosives from any bomb without causing a blast.
Military designers from the Krasnoarmeisk Institute have mixed water with an abrasive substance and ejected the mixture in the form of a beam under ultra-high pressure.
A one-centimetre-thick steel shell is cut within a minute without causing a blast.
They claim that if you mixed the water with industrial diamonds, the jet would cut a diamond.
The frame, which looks like a robot from a sci-fi movie and carries the cutting tool, was developed by the Russian Space Agency. Within ten minutes, ultra-sound sensors draw a 3D image of any object.
“We create a model of the object so that we are able to maintain the distance between the object and the cutting jet,” said Aleksandr Babintsev, Head of Automatic Systems Dept. at Krasnoarmeisk Research Institute.
The technology allows the neutralisation of explosives from a safe distance. All it takes is 27 litres of water and three kilos of abrasives. An air-pressurised water jet penetrates the bomb like a knife through butter.
Water also has the added advantage of preventing an explosive device from overheating, reducing the possibility of accidents.
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