Massive explosion at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground

Land mines are widely considered the cruelest and most indiscriminate of weapons, and have been banned by most of the world's nations. Yet American adversaries continue to use these weapons and their cousin, the improvised explosive device (IED), in an attempt to slow American forces.

In such cases, the speediest way to successfully overcome these munitions is with a spectacular offense, and few weapons used by combat infantrymen deliver more bang than the Mine Clearing Line Charge (MICLIC).

"It was originally designed to clear mine fields, but now its use is a little bit broader in that it has been used against general hazards in both Iraq and Afghanistan," said Tim Healy, branch chief for demolitions for Project Manager Close Combat Systems. "We used it extensively against IEDs and in suspected areas of IEDs."

The MICLIC is a series of block C-4 explosive wrapped around a 350 foot-long nylon rope encased in a nylon sleeve. The cable that holds the charges together is attached to a rocket, which is in turn fired into an area Soldiers want to clear. The rocket carries the line about 500 feet, and when the tightening of the cable detonates the charges, the overpressure from the tremendous explosion detonates any IEDs or land mines within 10 to 15 meters of the blast. This is ample width to allow mine rollers to safely pass.

Lot acceptance testing, the testing of a sample of munitions in real-world conditions to ensure reliability and effectiveness, is an important part of the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) mission. As MICLICs are manufactured, random samples are sent to YPG to be fired prior to the military paying for the lot.

"If these samples work as they are supposed to, we assume the lot is good and the government accepts the lot," said Healy.

Safety is a paramount concern, so certain parts of the lot acceptance test are different from how the explosive would be used in theater. For example, the MICLIC's detonation is done remotely by a weapons operator, and all test personnel required to observe the firing do so from a covered position far from the detonation site or, if closer, from inside an armored vehicle.

YPG test officer Robert Archiable, who has conducted lot acceptance tests on the MICLIC for over a decade, has an even more personal connection to these explosive devices: while serving in the Marine Corps, he used them to breach an Iraqi-laid mine field during the liberation of Kuwait in the first Gulf War.

"It's a great feeling," said Archiable of his work. "Even though I no longer wear a uniform, I am still helping out the military by testing items and making sure they work as designed. Secondly, we make sure they are safe: unlike some of our adversary countries, we care about our military personnel and don't want the tools we provide to harm them."