Metal detectors are the most commonly used demining tool worldwide but are not reliable. In Cambodia, for example, deminers detect only one mine out of every 129 alerts with the mine detector. The other 128 alerts are bottletops, litter, and shrapnel. Yet each detection has to be treated as a land mine and carefully cleared. Moreover, metal detectors cannot detect plastic mines, which are being used more frequently.
Sniffer dogs are one alternative used to detect land mines, plastic or metal.
Dogs can detect the vapor coming from the explosive filling of mines, but dogs are temperamental, require extensive training, and tire quickly. On the other end of the spectrum are the high-tech military hardware approaches such as using heavy machinery, mine resistant vehicles, and global positioning systems. Land mines would be rendered virtually obsolete if the technology existed to remove them from the ground efficiently, quickly, and effectively. There are several reasons. Focus on Military Objectives.