Experts from Bradford will spearhead a massive land mine clear-up operation in Afghanistan this spring.

Teams from Shipley firm MOS Cold Cutting Systems will fly out to the battle-scarred country in March armed with cutting-edge, water-powered technology.

The 'Viper' is a camouflaged, mobile version of the company's commercial high pressure 'jet cutter', which can be used to defuse bombs from hundreds of metres away.

MOS is one of only a handful of companies worldwide to have adapted the system, originally used for oil industry demolition, to military use.

Its managing director Steven Tempest-Mitchell, pictured, will join a small team of experts in venturing out to the Indian sub-continent over the coming months.

He said: "In Afghanistan we will be training up local groups on how to use our cold cutting systems to defuse mines and bombs from a safe distance, by remote control.

"These units have been ordered by the UN for the Land Mine and Bomb Clearance programme in the country, which has sadly had so many mines laid that it will take decades to clear.

"Using water-based abrasive cutting, the system doesn't produce sparks or heat, which is obviously a major bonus when you are trying to dismantle or defuse an explosive.

"Of course it is a new market and good business for us, but it is also gratifying to know we'll be helping to clear up a terrible problem which kills and maims on a daily basis.

"I'm a father myself and it is terrible to see what unexploded bombs and mines do to ordinary people, but especially to children."

After arriving in Pakistan, two teams of two instructors from MOS will make their way across the border to begin training local groups on heavily mined former front lines.

Only weeks before, they will have gained the perfect 'warm up' for the task by teaching bomb disposal teams in Vietnam how to use the new system, too.

Powered by a generator and a high pressure water unit, the equipment works by blasting a mixture of water and industrial diamond powder through a fine jet.

The spray can cut through just about anything and can also be used to 'flush out' explosives after a hole has been made in a shell or mine's casing.

Linked by pipes, it can be controlled by one or two joysticks from up to 500 metres away, with the operator watching every move on a closed-circuit television.

The military version is portable and can be pulled by 4x4 vehicles across the kind of rough terrain Mr Tempest-Mitchell expects his employees to find.

"Anywhere we go into there is always a risk of an explosion but we have never had a bomb go off on us yet, and if it did, the equipment can be operated at such a distance that nobody should be injured," said Mr Tempest-Mitchell, a 43-year-old father-of-three.

"We won't be working on the front line in Afghanistan but on old front lines, which have been heavily mined and bombed.

"When you're working with bombs and mines there are always concerns because it's always at the back of your mind that somebody's put them there for a reason. But we'll all be protected by armed guards who will stick with us."

Human rights group Amnesty International agrees with the United Nation's claim that Afghanistan is the most heavily-mined country in the world.

Amnesty is a member of Landmine Action, formed by numerous charities and voluntary organisations in a bid to get the use of the weapons banned.

A spokesman said: "We don't know the exact figures but the country is absolutely littered with mines and unexploded missiles, both from the recent war and stretching back to Cold War times.

"We don't know how long it's going to take but it will be at least decades before it is totally cleared, if ever - because of the sheer scale of the problem. So we welcome any development which will speed up the process"

Costing between £50,000 and £1 million a unit, MOS hopes to ship out up to 25 of its pioneering cutting systems to world trouble spots each year for the next decade.

The first units for Vietnam, which is still dealing with the devastating legacy of the war with America, left Shipley yesterday.