Alternative Technologies to Replace Antipersonnel Landmines

This book examines potential technologies for replacing antipersonnel landmines by 2006, the U.S. target date for signing an international treaty banning these weapons. Alternative Technologies to Replace Antipersonnel Landmines emphasizes the role that technology can play to allow certain weapons to be used more selectively, reducing the danger to uninvolved civilians while improving the effectiveness of the U.S. military. Landmines are an important weapon in the U.S. military's arsenal but the persistent variety can cause unintended casualties, to both civilians and friendly forces. New technologies could replace some, but not all, of the U.S. military's antipersonnel landmines by 2006. In the period following 2006, emerging technologies might eliminate the landmine totally, while retaining the necessary functionalities that today's mines provide to the military. Table of Contents Front Matter Executive Summary 1 Introduction 2 National Security Environments and the Context for Landmines 3 Current Uses of Antipersonnel Landmines 4 Evaluation Methodology 5 Alternatives Available Today 6 Alternatives Available by 2006 7 Alternatives Potentially Available After 2006 8 Conclusions and Recommendations References Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members Appendix B: Committee Meetings Appendix C: Current Types of U.S. Landmines Appendix D: Value of Antipersonnel Landmines in Unprotected Mixed Minefields Appendix E: The Ottawa Convention and Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons Appendix F: Signatories to the Ottawa Convention and Their Alternatives to Landmines Appendix G: Mission Need Statements