Combat Engineering Equipment - Mini Mine Detector Acquisition Project of the Philippine Army

The Philippine Army is in the process of acquiring Combat Engineering Equipment, which includes mine and IED detection capabilities in the wake of increased use of such by terrorists and insurgents.

The Mini Mine Detector Acquisition Project, which is a sub-lot of the Combat Engineering Equipment Acquisition Project, is a Horizon 2 phase Priority Project under the Revised AFP Modernization Program.

An Approved Budget for Contract (ABC) of Php18,200,000.00 was allocated by the Department of National Defense (DND) for the acquisition of 104 units.

Project Summary:

Combat Engineering Equipment - Mine Mine Detector Acquisition Project

Note: Edited as of 25 October 2019.

* End User: Philippine Army (unspecified Army Engineering Brigade)

* Quantity: 104 units

* Modernization Phase: Horizon 2 Phase Priority Projects of RAFPMP

* Project ABC: Php18,200,000.00

* Acquisition Mode: Public Bidding

* Source of Funding: GAA funded, to be paid via Multi-Year Obligatory Allocations (MYOA).

* SARO Release: TBA

* Winning Proponent: TBA

* Product for Delivery: TBA
    
* Contract Price: TBA

* First post by MaxDefense: TBA

* MaxDefense Searching Hashtag: #PACEEMMDAcquisition

* Status: procurement changed to public bidding, bid docs released 23 October 2019. SOBE scheduled 13 November 2019.

A mine or metal detector leads a group of US Marines during patrol in 2017. Photo taken from Department of Defense archives.

Overview:
The acquisition of mine detection capabilities has been in the procurement plans of the Philippine Army for some time, but was not given priority due to the numerous materiel in its procurement list despite having limited funds.

But the lack of such capability was exposed during the Battle of Marawi in 2017 against ISIS-inspired terrorists, and after the conflict when unexploded ordnance and mines became a problem that delayed the rehabilitation of Marawi City.

During the Marawi crisis in June 2017, the Philippine Army requested for the emergency procurement of 219 units of MMDs, but none has even been approved when the crisis was over by Octobe 2017.

Originally the Philippine Army planned to acquire only 44 units, but the improvements in technology and availability of simpler and cheaper but equally effective mine detectors allowed the PA to increase the quantity despite the budget not changing.


Technical Requirements:
The following are the technical requirements as indicated on the bid documents:

Specific Requirement: Brand new, NATO standard
Operating Length:
  * Folded: 328cm x 102cm x 56cm
  * Extended: 126.2cm
Operating Weight: max 2.6 kgs with batteries, max 2.4 kgs without batteries
Pulse Induction Transmission: Bipolar Multi-Period Sensing
Output:
  * Audio Output: Internal Loudspeaker or with Earset
  * Visual Output: through 9 LED Display
  * Data Output: RS-232 bidirectional
Temperature:
  * Operating Temperature: -30deg C to 60deg C
  * Storage Temperature: -30deg C to 80deg C
  * Environmental Endurance: to MIL STD 810G
Power Supply and Batteries:
  * Alkaline: 4 x C cell LR14
  * Rechargeable: 4 x NiCad or NiMh cell minimum 4,000mAh
  * Auxiliary Supply: 5-16V DC
Typical Operating Endurance: approx. 7 hours
Detection Ranges: Mine with very small metal content:
    * Test Piece 5cm, 0.15g: greater than 5cm (2 inches)
    * Typical Anti-Tank Mine: 50cm

Based on the values above, it appears that the Philippine Army's Technical Working Group for the project has closely patterned their desired Mini Mine Detector from Schiebel's MIMID Miniature Mine Detector. 

The Schiebel MIMID miniature mine detector was said to be effective that it can also be used for body search like shown above. Photo taken from Schiebel's website.

Schiebel of Austria is a world leader in mine detection equipment, and is famous also for the S-100 Camcopter UAV that is also being looked at by the Philippine Navy.

The MIMID has exactly the same dimensions, operating endurance, detection ranges, power supply, and has operating and storage temperature ranges within the requirements of the project.

Also, it means that the Philippine Army has deviated from its original plan of using a larger but more expensive model, since they were only originally looking at 44 units of Mini Mine Detector for the same budget of Php18.2 million. Now for the same budget, they're looking at 104 units.

Schiebel's MIMID during retracted and folded mode. The compact size is useful and would allow easy carrying by the operators. Photo taken from Defense-Blog website.

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U P D A T E S:
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25 October 2019:

The bid documents for the Combat Engineering Equipment - Lot 7: Mini Mine Detector (MMD) acquisition project was released on 23 October 2019. Like the Armored Vehicle-Launched Bridge component of the CEE project, the MMD acquisition's Submission and Opening of Bid Envelopes (SOBE) is scheduled on 13 November 2019.

MaxDefense expects Pre-Bid Conference queries to come out prior to SOBE, which would further clarify issues.

Schiebel remains a favorite for this tender, based on feedbacks we received from sources.

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===============First edit and release: 25 October 2019
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