The United States is going to develop new technological solutions for the rapid construction of tactical tunnels. The importance of tunnel networks for replenishing food supplies, weapons, ammunition is undeniable.
Three teams were selected to develop technologies under the Underminer program. The total cost of the project is at least $ 11 million. The development is managed by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). According to DAPRA experts, tactical tunnel networks would provide secure logistics for supplying military units. The development is expected to increase the drilling capacity by 20 times.
Recall that tunnel networks are widely used by insurgent groups. The Americans themselves first encountered the practice of using tunnels during the Vietnam War. Then the guerrillas of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) actively used underground passages for communication between their units, their supply, and reconnaissance operations. The American command in Vietnam even had to create special units to fight the Viet Cong rebels underground. The soldiers of these units were nicknamed "tunnel rats".
Then tactical tunnels became widespread in the Middle East, primarily in Palestine and Syria. They are used by Hezbollah and Hamas in Palestine, the Islamic State banned in Russia - in Syria and Iraq. For a long time, the American army has been improving technologies for detecting and destroying tunnels, considering them in the general context of the development of methods of counter-guerrilla operations. Now she herself decided in a certain plan to "go underground."
Iran and North Korea are actively using the tunnels for other purposes - to organize an uninterrupted supply of underground bunkers, in which, in the event of a large-scale armed conflict, high-ranking officials will be hiding, command posts of the army and individual formations, and the management of industrial facilities.
Under DAPRA's plan, teams from the General Electric Research Center and the Colorado School of Mines will develop a complete solution for the Underminer technology. A third team from Sandia National Laboratories will investigate technology integration capabilities to identify existing constraints and technology challenges.
Among the main directions are tunneling, borehole sounding and study of the specifics of the operation of tunnels. Underminer technology will combine cutting-edge achievements in the field of horizontal drilling, trenchless drilling technologies, and will use the potential of robotics.
The main task
The main task is to create such solutions that would provide the possibility of prompt and permanent access to underground tunnels. Apparently, the tunnels that DAPRA is talking about will nevertheless be closer not to the Iranian or North Korean tunnels, which are large-scale, capital structures, but to the tunnels used by the Viet Cong guerrillas. That is, these tunnels should be built as quickly as possible, in the field, in order to meet the needs of the army in the field.
According to Dr. Andrew Nuss, who runs the Underminer program at DARPA's Bureau of Tactical Technology, the ability to quickly navigate tactical tunnels will greatly benefit the US Army in complex ammunition supply, rescue and other missions. Now DARPA seriously hopes that new technologies will provide a breakthrough in the development of the underground infrastructure system.
