One of the primary breaching technologies is the chain flail. This device advances on its tracks and wheels while pounding the soil in front of it with chains attached to a rotating bar. Armour protects the operator from the detonations of mines struck by the chains.

This device, operated by one person, can clear 15,000 square metres per day: more than 300 times the area a prober can clear. The chain flail usually detonates all anti-tank mines in its path, but only detonates about 90% of the antipersonnel mines—others are thrown to either side intact, buried deeper (but still able to explode when stepped on), or damaged in ways that render them more likely to explode from pressure.

The flail is not a solution to humanitarian demining, but it may help. It has been used in Afghanistan for several years for first-pass mine clearance, and there have been no casualties to date among follow-up deminers. In circumstances where population pressure is causing people to re-occupy mined agricultural land, the flail can reduce casualties while causing no more damage to the terrain than grazing goats.