Despite the world wide campaign to ban land mines, the devices are still in widespread use. Easy to manufacture and use, American infantry are still likely to encounter landmines in the future. As a result, the U.S. has nearly $400 million since 1998 on researching ways to deal with mines. Nearly half that money has spent on discovering new ways to detect mines. There has not been a lot of success, and the long standing, labor intensive, methods are still the most effective.