Surface Forces: India Makes War On Mines

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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.