Tilbakemelding fra Mineryddere

Andy Smith er en av verdens ledende autoriteter innen Minerydding, og en av de sentrale deltagerene på vår utviklingsworkshop i Oslo for 3 år siden. Han har nå testet den Nye minemasken i felt i Tajikistan og her er hans tilbakemeldinger.

A couple of years back ROFI, the manufacturer of the most used protective equipment in HMA, was involved in a workshop in Norway where a bunch of us were involved in agreeing the spec for a revised visor. I was sceptical beforehand, but the design team were impressive and ROFI were on hand for manufacture, so I left feeling cautiously optimistic when I left.
 
One part of the spec that I was not in full agreement with was that the protection level of any new material used should be greater than that offered by 5mm polycarbonate. If that could be easily achieved, that was OK, but I felt that the material should not be allowed to dictate the design. There were lots of problems - not least the need for compound-curves without stretching (so thinning and stressing) any material used.
 
Accident evidence (and many empirical tests) indicate that untreated 5mm polycarbonate worn correctly will protect from an anti-personnel blast mine at 60cm. Nothing would reliably protect against a bounding fragmentation mine (Valmara, OZM or PROM) at that distance - so this was to be a blast visor (as required in the IMAS).
 
I went off and was ill for a while, and half-forgot about the whole thing until, in Geneva earlier this year Roald from ROFI showed me a prototype. At the same time he gave me an armour with a visor attached to the front - an idea I first prototyped ten years ago - to comment on.
 
The armour with attached visor is not quite right - but the next one could be. The main problem is that there is too much visor - making it impossible to wipe sweat from your forehead or scratch your nose. But the principle is sound and the protection is comfortable. Worth making a Mk 3 design, methinks.
 
By contrast, the new ROFI mask is already rather good. The mask material is a new and a very lightweight composite - offering far higher fragmentation protection than 5mm polycarbonate. The eye-piece is still 5mm polycarbonate. The head frame is comfortable and easily adjusted, and the weight less than half of a conventional visor.
 

In brief field introductions, the deminers have all rated it highly - including dog handlers (because voice-command is unimpeded by the vented face). Someone did ask where I had left my bike - but I think that a colour to match the body armour would answer that neatly.
 
As always, I could make minor modifications, but if you give me the choice over whether to wear this or the full-face visors I designed years back and which are most used in the world - I would go for this.... but I would like to do a series of tests against a PMN at 60cm first. This is not because I doubt the fragmentation performance of the new material (which is easy to test in a lab) but because I seek assurance over the performance when whacked by the blast wave and environmental fragmentation from real mines.
 
No, I don't take a cut from the original design or from this. My lack of a commercial interest is something I have consciously preserved so that I can make comments like this without being open to claims of having an axe to grind. As always, my interest is safety, then comfort, then cost. I think this is so comfortable that it might be worn all the time - (and the accident record shows that visors are not always worn down) - and so be a significant increase in safety. The mask cannot be raised, so is on or off - and the polycarbonate is close to the eyes so easier to see through. The venting stops all misting - and the design makes scratching of the eyepiece far easier to control.

Well done ROFI. Hope it costs a lot less than the Med-Eng thing.
 
With regards,
Andy