Based on the British use of bottom trawls drawn from the fishing trade to remove mines lying proud of the bottom, along with moored mine anchors, during World War II, experiments were carried out by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the 1950s and by the Navy in the early 1980s. As with the British wartime experience, these tests indicated that only slightly modified bottom trawls, whose lower edge penetrates a few inches into relatively soft sand or mud bottoms, were successful in picking up all bottom mines in their path except for those completely buried. Operationally, ensnared mines would be towed periodically from the channel being cleared and deposited in a holding area for later neutralization. The depth of water must be sufficient for the trawler and its operation. Heavy chains .
Bulldozers use plows to clear mines from their own path.
However, the plow must cover the full width of the bulldozer, not just the tracks, or the bulldozer itself will become a victim of magnetic and tilt-wand mines passing between the plows. In trials conducted on land, the system has demonstrated its ability to clear an 11-foot swath of land mines buried down to around 10 inches, removing obstacles of up to 4,000 pounds. Mines, obstacles, and the excavated material are stacked in the berm to one side of the vertical conveyor belt mounted above the narrow cutting blade. In these tests, the relatively slow rate of advance, cushioning of the excavated material, and manner in which the smooth surface of the conveyor belt shifts the material to one side reduce the chance that pressure mines will be detonated. To the knowledge of the panel, tests have not been run against magnetic, tilt-wand, and trip wire mines.