EOD teams upend training for threats from IEDs on the ground to drones in the air


The job of ordnance disposal technicians is rapidly changing. After decades of handling prevasive ground-level threats of improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan and Iraq, disposal techs are reinventing their jobs for a new threat: drones with explosives. As they adjust, they are adding drones to their own arsenals for dealing with explosives.

Over the last two decades, Army ordnance disposal technicians were tasked with rendering more than 100,000 improvised explosive devices “safe” in Iraq and Afghanistan. But as the face of warfare changes, the threat of one-way attack unmanned aerial systems and drones strapped with munitions and explosives are becoming a topic that ordnance disposal technicians are being increasingly trained on.

Read more…
Source: Task & Purpose


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • Washington: Towing company found explosive devices inside impounded vehicle

    September 2, 2026

    Employees at a Washington towing company got quite a bit more than the usual abandoned fast-food wrappers when they looked inside an impounded vehicle on August 31. According to the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office, workers discovered what appeared to be multiple improvised explosive devices inside the vehicle and promptly called authorities. Deputies responded to the facility ...

  • Ukraine: Explosion at Rivne police station occurred during bomb disposal operations

    August 31, 2026

    An explosion at a district police station in Rivne on 31 August which killed one member of staff and injured three others occurred as bomb disposal experts were at work. A criminal investigation has been opened into the negligent storage of firearms or ammunition. Read more… Source: Ukrainska Pravda Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters The latest news ...

  • Netherlands: Amsterdam home targeted with explosives 3 times in 1 day

    August 30, 2026

    On Saturday, a home on Professor R. Casimirstraat in Amsterdam was targeted three times with explosives. Two of the attempts resulted in explosions. However, just after midnight, police prevented the third explosion by arresting a 16-year-old boy from Amsterdam. The Defense Explosives Disposal Service (EOD) neutralized the explosives. According to the police, the boy will be presented ...

  • Nigeria: OPFY troops foil IED plot

    August 30, 2026

    Troops of Joint Task Force North West Operation Fansan Yamma recorded another operational success in Zamfara State with the recovery and safe disposal of a terrorist-planted Improvised Explosive Device (IED), along a major access route in Bukkuyum Local Government Area on 27 August 2026. This was contained in a statement issued by the Media Information Officer Joint Task ...

  • Germany: Aircraft bomb defused in Berlin

    August 27, 2026

    The 100-kilogram aerial bomb found in Berlin-Neukölln was successfully defused late Wednesday evening, according to a police statement. Thousands of people who had been evacuated from their homes were able to return shortly before midnight. The World War II bomb had been found in the Neukölln shipping canal. The detonator was detached and rendered harmless. “There ...

  • UK: Explosive disposal team remove’ unexploded ordnance’ in Dorset

    August 22, 2026

    An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was called after an item of suspected unexploded ordnance was discovered. Dorset Police confirmed it received a report at 12.58pm on Friday, August 21, that the item had been found  at a site off Lifeboat Quay in Poole. The force informed the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, who assessed and removed the item. Read more… Source: Dorset ...

  • Ireland: Gardaí confirm ‘viable devices’ removed from house in Dundalk

    August 21, 2026

    A number of viable devices were removed from a house in a Dundalk housing estate on Friday afternoon. Gardaí evacuated houses in the immediate vicinity, closed the road to the passage of traffic, and created a safe cordon. The Defence Forces’ Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team attended the scene and confirmed a number of devices as viable. The ...

  • Russia develops first combat robot that disarms mines with laser

    August 21, 2026

    Russian specialists have developed a laser device for remote mine clearance based on a robotic platform that renders munitions harmless at a distance of up to 500 meters by burning away the explosive material without detonation. The laser is mounted on a ground robotic system. The system offers several advantages: it is completely safe for bomb ...

  • UK: St Pancras station evacuated as ‘controlled explosion of unattended car’ sparks delays to rail services

    August 19, 2026

    St Pancras station was evacuated earlier today after the controlled explosion of an “unattended car”, sparking delays to rail services. Emergency services scrambled to the the scene on Tuesday before evacuating the busy travel hub. The Metropolitan Police confirmed a “controlled explosion” took place and said that the incident has since been deemed non suspicious. Read more… Source: The Standard Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters The latest ...

  • Ukraine: A shadow market for demining has emerged

    August 18, 2026

    In Ukraine, which is currently one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, most land is cleared of shells, mines, and other ordnance through illegal means. According to unofficial estimates from those surveyed LIGA.net according to farmers, between 50% and 70% of the demining work carried out for farmers in 2023–2024 was done informally. The Ministry ...

  • India: Punjab Police foils terror plot, recovers 690 gram IED

    August 16, 2026

    Amritsar Rural Police on Sunday said it had foiled a terror plot targeting a police establishment and recovered a 690-gram improvised explosive device (IED) along with an electronic detonator. “Amritsar Rural Police averts a terror plot targeting a police establishment and recovers an IED weighing 690 grams, along with an electronic detonator, battery, timer and iron ...

  • EOD Soldier conquers Army Jungle Operations Course

    August 14, 2026

    A 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command Soldier recently earned the coveted Jungle Tab at Aeronaval Base Cristóbal Colón, Panamá, July 3, 2026. Sgt. Trent K. Kruckenberg, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician with the 18th Ordnance Company EOD, braved the U.S. Army’s 21-day Jungle Operations Training Course, not only earning the right to don ...

  • Romania: Drone fragments removed from Costinesti beach

    August 13, 2026

    Drone remains were discovered in the sea, close to Romania’s Costinești beach, on the Black Sea shore, on Thursday, August 13. The device was first noticed by employees in the area earlier in the morning. Initially, whether or not the device was a drone was not clear. Lifeguards then notified the authorities at around 8:15 AM ...

  • Ukraine seeks NATO help as demining challenge mounts after Russian invasion

    August 12, 2026

    Ukraine’s State Emergency Service has asked NATO’s disaster-response co-ordination centre to help supply equipment for humanitarian demining and the transport and disposal of explosive ordnance. The request was submitted via NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC), which circulates appeals for assistance to contacts in NATO member states and partner countries, the organisation informed on Wednesday. Read ...

  • Indian-US Navy EOD exercise 2026 to commence at Southern Naval Command Kochi

    August 9, 2026

    New Delhi , August 9 (ANI): The Indian Navy-US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Exercise 2026 is scheduled to be conducted at Southern Naval Command, Kochi, from August 10 to 14, the Indian Navy said in a statement on Sunday. According to the Indian Navy, the bilateral exercise aims to enhance interoperability and strengthen professional cooperation ...

  • Kenya: Man injured after suspected IED explodes in Mandera town

    August 7, 2026

    A 35-year-old man lost an arm after a suspected improvised explosive device exploded in his hands in Mandera Town on Friday evening, triggering a security response. The blast occurred at about 6:30pm in the Bula Buruburu area, near Holland Sports Ground, according to preliminary police reports and witnesses. Investigators suspect the man was carrying the device ...

  • UK: EOD experts put through their paces in urban operations training

    August 5, 2026

    Soldiers from 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Regiment Royal Logistic Corps have been sharpening their warfighting skills during an intense urban operations exercise in Catterick Garrison. 521 EOD Squadron conducted a demanding series of training serials, including blank firing and building clearance drills, designed to prepare troops for real-world urban conflict scenarios. The activity formed part of a Squadron-level ...

  • France: Explosions heard as more than 400 WWII shells found in the village affected by wildfires

    August 4, 2026

    Hundreds of World War II shells and munitions have been discovered in the French village of Le Porge, as residents return to the ravaged community in the wake of last month’s blazes, according to local authorities. Explosions were heard near the village in France’s Gironde region following the devastating fires, which swept through the country’s southwest. “A bomb ...

  • Netherlands: Explosive found in garden of Rotterdam home

    August 4, 2026

    The police discovered an explosive in the garden of a home in Rotterdam on Monday evening. They cordoned off the area and called in the Ministry of Defense’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unit to remove the device. The police responded to the home on De Voorde, in the Feijenoord district, after receiving a report of someone with a ...

  • Spain: A 17th-century mortar bomb found in La Seu d’Urgell

    August 2, 2026

    The seventh archaeological campaign in the Pati de les Monges of La Seu d’Urgell has brought to light a 17th-century mortar bomb, a find that forced the activation of the security protocol and the removal of the piece from the site. The projectile reinforces the hypothesis of a sudden abandonment of the space in a wartime ...

  • Uganda: UPDF passes out EOD, Counter-IED technicians and combat engineers

    August 1, 2026

    The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) has passed out Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (Counter-IED) technicians and combat engineers from Intake 4/2026 at the School of Combat Engineering, Kalama. Presiding over the pass-out ceremony, the Commander of the 14 Combat Engineering Brigade, Brigadier General Richard Wakayinja, said the nature of modern warfare has ...

  • Bangladesh: Police defuse ‘pressure cooker’ bomb in Ashulia

    July 31, 2026

    Police have recovered a specially constructed improvised explosive device (IED) from a travel bag left at a grocery shop in Ashulia, Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka. The device was later safely defused by the Bomb Disposal Unit of the police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Division. According to Ashulia police station, at around 9:30 pm ...