Early on a June morning in 2023, my colleagues and I drove down a bumpy dirt road north of Kyiv in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Armed Forces were conducting training exercises nearby, and mortar shells arced through the sky.
We arrived at a vast field for a technology demonstration set up by the United Nations. Across the 25-hectare field—that’s about the size of 62 American football fields—the U.N. workers had scattered 50 to 100 inert mines and other ordnance. Our task was to fly our drone over the area and use our machine learning software to detect as many as possible. And we had to turn in our results within 72 hours. The scale was daunting: The area was 10 times as large as anything we’d attempted before with our drone demining startup, Safe Pro AI.
Read more…
Source: IEEE Spectrum
Related:
- Demining Capability Coalition to provide Ukraine with €205 million worth of equipment and machinery this year
June 20, 2026
The Demining Capability Coalition supporting Ukraine will establish a €95 million fund to assist in clearing Ukraine’s territory of explosive hazards. In addition, specialized machinery and equipment worth €205 million are scheduled for delivery to Ukraine in 2026. The announcement was made by Rolandas Kiškis, coordinator of the Demining Capability Coalition at the Ministry of National ...
- Syria: Mine clearance teams begin work to secure return routes to Serêkaniyê
June 18, 2026
Mine clearance teams have begun work on the road connecting the cities of Tel Tamer and Serêkaniyê and the surrounding villages, as part of preparations for the return of displaced residents of Serêkaniyê to their homes. Presidential team member Mustafa Abdi told ANHA agency that a specialized committee has been formed, comprising the Internal Security Forces ...
- Cambodia: HALO Trust successfully clears minefield in Oddar Meanchey province
June 17, 2026
The HALO Trust has successfully completed mine clearance operations at a contaminated site in Ta Dev village, Trapaing Tav commune, Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, according to information released by the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) today. During the operation, deminers discovered and safely destroyed one anti-vehicle landmine. The cleared route is used by around 200 ...
- AUSSOM, UN Mine Action Service Discuss Expanding Cooperation on Explosive Threats in Somalia
June 17, 2026
The commander of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), Lieutenant General Sam Kavuma, met in Mogadishu with the head of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), Fran O’Grady, to discuss strengthening cooperation in addressing explosive threats and accelerating mine-clearance efforts across Somalia. According to officials, the talks focused on enhancing coordination ...
- Iraq: Thousands of deminers face danger without safeguards
May 30, 2026
More than 5,000 Iraqis work in mine and unexploded ordnance clearance across Iraq, facing low wages and limited social and health protections despite carrying out one of the country’s most dangerous humanitarian missions, the Eco Iraq Observatory cautioned on Saturday. The workforce includes men and women serving in field, administrative, medical, and logistical roles, with most ...
- Poland provides $250,000 to support mine clearance in Syria
May 26, 2026
The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Syria announced financial support worth $250,000 for mine clearance operations across Syrian territory in 2026. In a statement posted on its official account on X, the embassy said the Polish government had decided to support mine clearance programs as a key step toward enhancing civilian safety and contributing ...
- Ukraine: Kyiv and Tokyo plan to create a venture fund and launch a commercial investment hub
May 25, 2026
Ukraine and Japan are strengthening their cooperation in the areas of economic and technological transformation, smart demining, and investment attraction. During negotiations, the countries’ representatives paid close attention to integrating Japanese technologies into Ukrainian production. First, they plan to apply this approach in the demining sector, and later scale it up to industry and agriculture. Read more… Source: Ukraine Business ...
- Libya: Italy and international partners relaunch support for mine clearance
May 22, 2026
According to data from the Libyan Centre for Mine and War Remnants Activities, since 2011 over 688 million square metres of Libyan territory have been contaminated by explosive devices or war remnants. Italy, the European Union, and nine other countries have confirmed their commitment to supporting mine clearance and unexploded ordnance clearance activities in Libya, considered ...
- Cambodia: Japan funds $11M new mine clearance initiative
May 19, 2026
Cambodia has launched a new Japanese-funded mine clearance initiative worth more than $11 million to accelerate efforts to remove deadly remnants of war from the country’s western provinces, expand support for affected communities, and move closer to its goal of becoming mine-free by 2030. The third phase of the project was launched on May 18 in ...
- UN Calls for Urgent Action as Afghanistan’s Land is Heavily Contaminated by Explosives
May 16, 2026
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed deep concern over the contamination of two-thirds of Afghanistan’s land by explosive materials, reporting that an average of 15 civilians lose their lives each month due to mine explosions. The agency emphasized that most of the casualties are children, underscoring the urgent ...
- Syria: International donors continue to support recovery efforts with emphasis on mine clearance
May 14, 2026
Head of the donor countries delegation and Director for Humanitarian Affairs at the German Foreign Ministry, Ina HEUSGEN, said Thursday that international donors continue to support Syria’s recovery efforts and infrastructure rehabilitation, with particular emphasis on mine clearance, humanitarian assistance and creating conditions conducive to the return of displaced Syrians. In an interview with SANA on ...
- EU-funded equipment handed to Lebanon to tackle hidden explosive threats
May 14, 2026
Explosive ordnance disposal equipment funded by the European Union has been handed over to the Lebanon Mine Action Center at a ceremony in Kfarchima, east of Beirut. The event took place at the Logistic Brigade and marked the delivery of equipment intended for explosive ordnance disposal — the detection and removal of unexploded bombs, mines and ...
- Libya: Chief of General Staff and UN Official review mine clearance plans
May 13, 2026
Chief of the General Staff of the Libyan Army, Salah Al-Din Al-Namroush, met with Fatima Zreig, Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service in Libya, to discuss plans for removing landmines and explosive remnants of war across the country. The meeting, held at Al-Namroush’s office, focused on enhancing coordination and cooperation between the two sides ...
- Iraq: Controlled blast rocks area near Baghdad Airport
May 13, 2026
Iraqi security forces carried out a controlled explosion of war remnants near Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday, a police source told Shafaq News. The materials included rockets, ammunition, and other unexploded ordnance previously recovered during search operations in several areas. Read more… Source: Shafaq News – Baghdad Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters The latest news and insights delivered ...
- Nepal: Two decades since peace accord, wartime IEDs still haunt villagers
May 11, 2026
Nearly two decades after the peace accord formally ended a protracted Maoist insurgency (1996-2006), explosives planted during the conflict are still being discovered in settlements, school compounds and farmlands across the country. According to security agencies, many explosives planted or buried during the conflict may still remain underground, particularly in remote areas and former battlegrounds. Read more… Source: ...
- Russian Sappers Deploy Electromagnetic Guns for Mine Clearance in Donbass
May 10, 2026
Servicemen from Russia’s Center group of forces have begun using «electromagnetic guns» to clear mines in recently liberated settlements in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service reported. According to the ministry, sappers from the 12th Separate Guards Engineer Brigade are deploying the Courier ground-based robotic system. The platform is equipped with a device that generates a powerful electromagnetic field, allowing specialists to clear urban ...
- The UK renews £1.6M for Cambodia mine action
May 7, 2026
Thousands of Cambodian farming families will live and work more safely as the UK renews its commitment to mine action in Cambodia, now in its fourth decade of support with an estimated total contribution of £65 million (over USD 85 million). This year, the UK Government is renewing a commitment of £1.6 million (USD 2.1 million) ...
- Ukraine: Glass cobwebs in the fields, why fibre optics can be a problem for demining
May 6, 2026
A new anthropogenic landscape is forming along the front line, saturated with everything possible: debris, mines, unexploded ordnance, and toxic waste. Fiber optics from drones are also on this list. Millions of kilometers of thin cables litter Ukrainian lands and pose a new challenge for humanitarian demining teams. It would be absurd to stop using fiber-optic ...
- UN: Global demining work strained by rising conflicts and shrinking aid
May 2, 2026
Demining experts from around the world have been sharing their collective shock at the widespread and growing threat from unexploded ordnance, the new head of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said this week. “They’re telling me, ‘Never in my career have I ever seen so many conflicts,’” said Kazumi Ogawa, speaking at the close of ...
- Cambodia: Farmer killed in mine blast as ERW casualties rise
May 1, 2026
A farmer was killed Wednesday when an explosive remnant of war (ERW) detonated on his land in Battambang province, taking the number of blast casualties to 21 since the start of the year. This marks a rise of 17% compared to the same period last year. Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) Director-General Heng Ratana said the ...
- Alabama: Collaborative testing demonstration seeks improvement for shorelines remediation projects
April 30, 2026
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — Traditional methods to detect Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) on shorelines can be a struggle. As a result\, many impacted areas remain unaddressed due to the difficulty\, cost\, and risk associated with large-scale detection and classification. In February, a team of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers geophysicists and ordnance explosive safety experts supported a ...
- Sudan: European Union funds Mine Action Programme to support recovery and safe returns
April 28, 2026
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Sudan has received new funding from the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) to support mine action activities aimed at improving civilian safety, humanitarian access, and early recovery in conflict-affected areas of Sudan. The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Sudan has received new funding ...