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Ground Standoff Minefield Detection System (GSTAMIDS)

A spiral development strategy developed for the US Army Engineer School, Maneuver Support Center, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, the Ground Standoff Mine Detection System (GSTAMIDS) was intended to provide the US Army with vehicle-mounted mine detection capabilities in successive blocks. Each block would combines the best available technologies for mine detection, confirmation, and neutralization in order to support Army countermine operations in the 21st century. The GSTAMIDS spiral development was to allow the material developer to field a near-term capability in FY04 (Block 0), while still pursuing solutions to the most pressing technical challenges to vehicle-mounted mine detection. These challanges were attaining better probabilities of detection, reducing false alarm rates, and increasing detection speeds.

The Ground Standoff Minefield Detection System spiral development program was geared toward providing the war-fighter an incremental, near-term capability to execute countermine missions. GSTAMIDS Block 0 was an upgrade over the existing Interim Vehicular Mounted Mine Detection (IVMMD) system. The primary mission for the GSTAMIDS Block 0 system was route clearance. It would be teleoperated from a Mine Protected Control Vehicle (MPCV), and would automatically detect and mark all metallic and non-metallic AT mines. Follow-on forces would locate, confirm, and neutralize detected mines from the MPCV using a mechanical device. The Interim Vehicle Mounted Mine Detector (IVMMD) would be able to provide the maneuver commander a partial GSTAMIDS capability. The main purpose of the IVMMD was to provide an interim vehicle mounted capability from a non-developmental source until GSTAMIDS could be fielded.

GSTAMIDS Block 0 development directly supported the GSTAMIDS Block 1 system, which would provide enhanced detection capability and faster clearance though the use of emerging mine confirmation technology. Minefield information would be reported through compatible C4I communication systems to the maneuver commander for force protection.

The GSTAMIDS Block 2 system would provide a forward looking mine detection and avoidance capability for a variety of military vehicles.

Ten GSTAMIDS Block 0 systems (using a modified Meerkat vehicle and a control vehicle) would upgrade the IVMMD system in the Countermine Contingency Stockpile (CMCS). Initial plans were to field 170 GSTAMDS Block 1 systems to Corps level wheeled combat engineer battalions. The Basis of Issue for Block 2 was not initially developed.

In April 2001, the General Accountability Office reported that the performance of ground penetrating radar, a primary sensor in both the HSTAMIDS and the GSTAMIDS, was questionable in saturated soils, such as what might occur after a heavy rain. However, neither the HSTAMIDS nor GSTAMIDS testing plans specifically called for testing in wet conditions. The only way this condition would be tested was if there was heavy rain on or just before the days that testing was to occur. As such, knowledge about the performance of these detectors in a variety of conditions was likely to be limited. It also suggested that detection would be potentially limited in soils high in iron-oxide.

The GAO concluded that it could identify no certain, absolute limitations to an acoustic/seismic approach meeting countermine missions, but that there were significant concerns. Acoustic waves were capable of imaging buried land mines. However, clutter was a major concern with acoustic approaches. Interference from rocks, vegetation, and other naturally objects in the environment could alter the waves as they travel in the ground. The GAO suggested that additional work was needed to assess the limits of an acoustic/seismic approach for detecting land mines. The acoustic system was one of the technologies that the Army was exploring for the Ground Stand-off Mine Detection System (GSTAMIDS).

With the beginning of the Future Combat Systems Program in 1999, planners looked to incorporate the GSTAMIDS Block 1 element into that program. In October 2003, after refocusing the program, GSTAMIDS FCS officially began. GSTAMIDS FCS was an FCS Complementary program. GSTAMIDS Block 0 was canceled in mid-2003 to make way for the transition. The creation of the GSTAMIDS FCS program also led to the decision not to pursue the GSTAMIDS Block 2 spiral. As of 2006, the GSTAMIDS program was fully funded through FY12.