EL SEGUNDO, Calif., April 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has contracted Raytheon to develop a laser technology for land mine detection.
U.S. company Raytheon was awarded the contract from DARPA for the development of a vibrometer. Under the $19 million deal, Raytheon will work on its vibrometer laser radar vibration sensor for the detection of buried land mines and tunnels.
Raytheon said its vibrometer is expected to measures ground-surface vibrations to detect potential land mine threats. Officials said the technology will be developed for eventual field-testing on a moving vehicle.
"We are delighted with the opportunity to build and test the demonstrator," Nick Uros, Raytheon Advanced Concepts and Technology vice president, said in a statement.
"This will provide the first capability of real-time acoustic and seismic detection on a mobile platform, with significant improvement in detection stand-off range."
