The Dust Remover system is supposed to reduce the dust clouds through a consistent dripping of water which keeps the dust on the ground . Photo: IDF Spokesperson

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The IDF is currently dealing with environmental damages caused by the dust created during the usage of tanks and other armored vehicles, as a part of its commitment to the environment. The Quality Testing Department of the Technological Brigade of the Ground Forces believes that it has found the solution. They call it, the Dust Remover.

The dust clouds produced through the stirring of dust by the armored combat vehicles moving through the field, cause damage to the neighboring agricultural areas, and disturb the photosynthetic process of the plants in their surroundings. The stirred up dust makes it difficult to breathe for humans close to the vehicles, and makes it impossible for small animals to move on the routes the vehicles passes through. 

The Dust Remover system is supposed to reduce the dust clouds through a consistent dripping of water which keeps the dust on the ground and stops it from rising up in clouds. The idea: attaching a device with a sprinkler behind the armored vehicle, which disperses small drops of water on the route the vehicle passes through. A waste of water? The Quality Testing Department says its irrelevant, since sea water can be used to operate the system.

“If we succeed in developing this system,” says the deputy commander of the department, Lt. Col. Ronen Steckler, who began his military career in the Armored Corps, and initiated the new idea, “everyone will benefit including the IDF as well as the State of Israel in general.” A success, he says, will be considered a reduction of 30 percent of the dust produced by armored vehicles.

Lt. Col. Ronen Steckler is cautiously optimistic about this kind of success. “If our budget stays constant as it is now, I hope that the system will be ready by next year already,” he said. In any case, since the amount of water that the vehicles will have to carry behind them will be large, the Dust Removers will be used mainly for operational purposes and for the transfer of the vehicles to assembling areas.