Minesweeper ID Needed

[cavetech]

If this is the wrong forum, would a moderator please move it?

Here are pictures of a running Minesweeper. The front chain flail seems to mounted on a Ford tractor with a raised armored cab in the rear for the driver. The front tracks are all steel. The rear tires are pneumatic.

What is this vehicle and what would it sell for?

 

[MWMULES]

Answer is on the flail boom it is an Aardvark and came out back in the 80's made in UK. It is worh it's scrap value as it is one of those MVs that is a trouble to move, can't go down the road with it or trail ride. It looks like an Mk I early model with the light armor.
Video is of a MK4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFY2vTW538





It is known flails don't reliably detonate all the mines in the area being swept, leaving it potentially hazardous. Some mines, such as the Italian MAT/6 mine are designed to be flail resistant. Mines that have been buried for many years may become unreliable and fail to detonate when struck, yet they may still be hazardous. Also, some mines are smashed without being detonated. This is referred to as a disruptive strike and still renders the mine harmless, but the ground is contaminated with metal debris and undetonated explosive material. This makes it harder to carry out the necessary manual check of the area after the flail had finished, either with metal detectors or explosive sniffer dogs. There were also anecdotes of mine flails flinging live mines out of the mine field and into safe areas. An experiment with inert mine-analogues [SUP][16][/SUP] demonstrated that this could happen; some mines were thrown over 10 metres (33 ft) by the flail and, in one case, 65 metres (213 ft).

 

[CARNAC]

But it could also be used as a great crowd control vehicle.

 

[cavetech]

Thank you for identifying this machine. It is not far from my house and I found it to be pretty interesting, since I had never seen anything like it. The owner will be disappointed that it is practically worthless.

 

[essayons07]

There was one years ago at Eglin listed on GL. I don't think it went for very much. Wonder if it is the same one?

 

[bikeman]

The Army is fielding a, what looks like FMTV variant, along the same lines, but with the flail at the rear of the vehicle and it being capable to drive like a normal truck. No clue where i saw the video (here? facebook?).

 

[cavetech]

There was one years ago at Eglin listed on GL. I don't think it went for very much. Wonder if it is the same one?

This minesweeper has been in an old truck lot for many years. There is also a deuce and a half that has been parked there for ten years. I might try and start the deuce and see how it runs (if at all).

I saw a similar minesweeper on the Aardvark website and it had rubber tracks. I don't know if the rubber tracks can be installed on this machine and then it could drive in parades and static displays. Might be too costly to replace tracks.

 

[Mac53]

That thing is awesome looking. Maybe there would be a few other people like me that might drive the price above scrap? I'd love to just drive it in circles.

 

[dragonman]

Id be interested to. what does it weigh?

 

[MWMULES]

Over 16 tons
The dimensions for the MK
IV are:
1. Height (with air filter): 3.20m
2. Width (outer edge of flail): 3.56m
3. Length (flail unit extended): 8.4m
4. Shipping length (flail unit retracted): 7.75m
5. Weight (prime mover and flail): 15,328kg.

The flail is over with so would have to get permits to move it. Found a lot ot of info here on the testing of the later models . http://www.humanitariandemining.org/2010Design/resources/Aardvark_Report.pdf

 

[Another Ahab]

Mine Detection

The Army is fielding a, what looks like FMTV variant, along the same lines, but with the flail at the rear of the vehicle and it being capable to drive like a normal truck. No clue where i saw the video (here? facebook?).

Flail at the rear? Is that a good idea? Some techniques will always be better than others:

 

[Recovry4x4]

Could be modified to be a pretty effective golf ball collector on the driving range.

 

[cavetech]

That thing is awesome looking. Maybe there would be a few other people like me that might drive the price above scrap? I'd love to just drive it in circles.

The owner of the Aardvark would like to sell it. He has a number of $10K in his mind which is totally unrealistic.

I am told the machine is fully functional. I toyed with the idea of buying it and putting a coat of paint on it. It would look very good then. But, I have too many projects going on and my next truck will be a deuce and a half or 5 ton.

If anybody is interested in buying it I will pass your offer on to the owner. It is located south of Lake City, Florida. My name is Steve.

 

[CARNAC]

Flail at the rear? Is that a good idea? Some techniques will always be better than others:

View attachment 528557

Keep in mind that a lot of the demining is done in areas not in contact. If in contact, the MICLIC and/or mineplows/rakes. The Swedes I thing developed this and the main intent was demining operations in 3rd world countries.

 

[Karl kostman]

Thanks for posting I have not seen one of these before, its definitely one of those WAY WILD looking interesting as heck kind of vehicles that unfortunately just would not be worth a darn, maybe like was said before for clearing brush? Really neat in a weird kind of way though!
KK

 

[Another Ahab]

Keep in mind that a lot of the demining is done in areas not in contact. If in contact, the MICLIC and/or mineplows/rakes. The Swedes I thing developed this and the main intent was demining operations in 3rd world countries.

You'd think there'd be a market for these operational used units in third-world countries (sown with mines), rather then cutting them up into useless scrap.

But I guess it's the economics, and then connecting the seller and buyer. Crazy, but the way it is.

 

[Ragnarok]

If only it was cheaper and not cost-prohibitive to make run again may even have a decent 2nd life in the creative hands of some farmer or engineering company... maybe have some use for light logging or subterranean cable/pipe laying, or heck, strip it down to frame and maybe somebody is crazy enough to make a mid-engined halftrack just for giggles. Safe to say we all saw things on this site that sound absurd at first but when we realize just how dang nifty it is.

 

[cbear]

Combine from **** or offroad snow blower.

 

[Floridianson]

There was one years ago at Eglin listed on GL. I don't think it went for very much. Wonder if it is the same one?

Yep rember seeing it on GL and like you said did not go for much.

 

[Ragnarok]

Combine from **** or offroad snow blower.

That or maybe a nice off-road vehicle for maintaining ATV trails, or fabricate a crane onto it for recovery of said ATVs. Maybe for any farmers on here the tracks may provide enough floatation to use it as a grain cart tug when fields are muddy, lots of possibilities once you think outside the box.