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
Related:
- Army bomb disposal unit carried out controlled explosion of grenade at building site in Deepcut
August 12, 2019
A bomb disposal unit carried out a controlled explosion of a “legacy grenade” at a building site in Deepcut. The Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team were called to a building site close to Aisne Road in Deepcut at around 2pm on Friday (August 9) at the request of Surrey Police. The bomb disposal unit found a grenade at the site that ...
- 5 years after IS atrocities, young Yazidis team up to clear explosive hazards in northern Iraq
August 10, 2019
After five years of massive atrocities committed against the Yazidi minority by Islamic State (IS) militants in Sinjar region, explosive remnants from the anti-IS war still pose a threat to civilians’ lives in the region. Through a project by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), young men and women from the ravaged Yazidi community have teamed ...
- Philippines: Training on recognizing explosive ordnance ends with 36 graduates
August 10, 2019
Safety and security is everyone’s concern. With several news reports of bomb threats and bombing incidents nationwide, including the confiscation of improvised explosive devices (IED) from several alleged communist members nabbed in Central Visayas, there is a serious need for a joint anti-terror effort. And so the five-day Explosive Ordnance Recognizance (EOR) Training was held in Cebu ...
- Deployment lull set to end for Nevada Guard Soldiers
August 9, 2019
This year, the end of summer will mark the end of a long break for both Nevada students and Soldiers alike. It’s been two relatively quiet, homebound years since a Nevada Army Guard has been deployed abroad. But contrary to late-summer days, the deployment schedule is heating up for the five departing Army Guard units that ...
- Demining works underway in Armenia’s Syunik Province
August 9, 2019
The Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise SNCO is performing demining works in the Davit Bek settlement of Kapan community and in the Kornidzor settlement of Tegh community of the Syunik Province. Based on the Center’s press release, the demining works in the Davit Bek settlement are being performed jointly with the Foundation for Demining and ...
- African nations, Western partners strive to combat IED threat
August 5, 2019
A US-trained Kenyan bomb disposal technician stood in a field showing colleagues from more than 20 countries how to collect evidence after the detonation of a roadside explosive. Security experts who met in the Kenyan capital Nairobi last week say African nations must do more of such intelligence-sharing to counter weapons widely considered the greatest threat ...
- Kabul Police foil explosion by defusing explosives-laden bicycle
August 4, 2019
The Kabul Police foiled an explosion by discovering defusing an explosives-laden bicycle in Kabul city. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement that the police force discovered the explosives-laden bicycle in the 10th district of Kabul city. The statement further added that the militants had left the explosives-laden bicycle close to Bibi Mahru High School. Furthermore, ...
- Isle of Wight: EOD technicians explode ordnance in Shanklin,
August 1, 2019
Ventnor Coastguard, alongside the police, and explosive ordnance disposal technicians were called to Shanklin this afternoon. At around 3pm, Ventnor Coastguard Rescue Team was tasked to find unexploded ordnance reported by a member of the public. Upon discovery, Ventnor Coastguard Rescue Team, together with the police, cordoned off the area, and issued a broadcast to stop any ...
- TF EOD trains future leaders
July 31, 2019
U.S. Army Sgt. Bradley Houston participated in a team leader certification exercise at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, July 27, 2019. Houston is deployed to Kosovo in support of Multinational Battle Group East’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Task Force. Qualifying in the team leader certification, offers Houston a chance to be in charge of his own team in the ...
- Give post-Troubles medal to bomb disposal specialists: Beattie
July 29, 2019
Army bomb disposal teams working in Northern Ireland should get a medal in recognition of their service, Doug Beattie has said. Commenting after army specialists were tasked to deal with an improvised explosive device in Craigavon at the weekend, the Ulster Unionist MLA said he had written to the defence minister in an effort to have ...
- Peshmerga forces train to counter IED threat
July 25, 2019
Zeravani soldiers conducted Counter-Improvised Explosive Device training exercises at Bnaslawa Training Center near Erbil, Iraq, July 25, 2019. An Italian Army C-IED Mobile Training Team trained the soldiers to detect and defeat explosive hazards commonly found on the battlefield. Zeravani are a specialized branch of Peshmerga forces operated by the Kurdistan Regional Government. The Kirkuk-based team ...
- Afghan forces thwart militants deadly plot to target Baghlan University students
July 25, 2019
The Afghan forces thwarted a deadly plot by anti-government armed militants to target the university students in northern Baghlan province. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) in a statement said the security forces discovered and defused an improvised explosive which the militants had planted close to Baghlan University. The statement further added that the militants had planted the ...
- Landmine clearance to start at Royal Welsh Show (don’t worry, they’re not real)
July 21, 2019
Visitors at this week’s Royal Welsh Show are being invited to don protective body armour and hunt for explosive-free landmines. A dummy minefield is being created at the showground to highlight the humanitarian work of the HALO Trust. Mine clearance enables communities in war-torn countries to recover abandoned land and grow their own food. In 1997 the work received worldwide ...
- Bishnupur: IED defused
July 20, 2019
A team of Manipur Police Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad has safely defused an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) found by the personnel of 42 Assam Rifles, Sendra post beneath the culvertthat connects Moirang and Tronglaobi while patrolling, this morning. To prevent any unwanted causalities, personnel of 42 AR and Moirang Police cordoned off the area. The bomb, ...
- Video captures moment bomb disposal team blows up First World War ordnance on beach
July 19, 2019
Bomb disposal experts cleared a Cornish beach to blow up a piece of ordnance that has been there for more than 100 years. The beach at Porthtowan was sealed off as the Navy team, police and coastguard descended to destroy the object. It was flagged up by RNLI lifeguards who discovered it before the tide came in last night (Thursday, ...
- In a first, Singapore and US soldiers defuse IEDs in exercise
July 18, 2019
Soldiers from the 5th Battalion Singapore Infantry Regiment and the US army combed through a forested area before fighting through an urban training area, with infantry carrier vehicles moving in. In the course of their assault at the Murai Urban Training Facility yesterday, the 300 or so troops spotted an improvised explosive device (IED) in a ...
- Inside Kabul’s school for explosive detection dogs
July 17, 2019
Around 200 dogs train at a time at the Mine Detection Centre (MDC) in the Afghan capital, starting when they are just pups. They are put through their paces around obstacle courses and are taught to correctly identify target smells from a conveyor belt of identical canisters during an intense two-year course. Once qualified, they are a ...
- Fighting Next to U.S. Commandos, but Without the Same Training and Gear
July 17, 2019
The Army has failed to adequately train and equip the military bomb technicians and infantry troops who are increasingly accompanying American commandos on high-risk missions in war zones, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times. As the Pentagon draws down the number of troops in combat, including in Afghanistan and Syria, it ...
- Okinawa Prefectural Police and Marines Participate in Post-Blast Analysis Training
July 17, 2019
“Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!” The last radio call a Marine detonating an improvised explosive device makes to Marines on the other side of the soundwaves outside the danger zone of an oncoming blast. One, two, three seconds – then instantaneously – a sound like thunder rings through the dense ...
- The UN Operation to Disarm Mosul’s IEDs and Unexploded Bombs
July 14, 2019
Two years this month this month, a US-led military coalition declared victory against ISIS in Mosul, liberating one of Iraq’s largest cities after three years of occupation by the radical Islamist group. While the eastern part of the city is on the road to recovery, West Mosul, where ISIS made its final stand, remains in ruins, ...
- 75 years later, unexploded grenades, bombs continue to surface on Guam
July 7, 2019
Although the battle for Guam ended 75 years ago, remnants of war continue to be unearthed along roads, in yards, on beaches and farms. About 11,000 pieces of bullets, grenades, bombs and other pieces of unexploded ordnance have been found since 1954, according to the Navy. There is no estimate as to how many pieces of unexploded ...
- These Navy EOD techs fought off 20 ISIS fighters in a cave during secret night raid
July 6, 2019
Two California-based sailors have been recognized for extraordinary heroism during a nighttime raid on a remote underground Islamic State group hideout, where the pair fought off 20 terrorists and shielded their comrades from grenades and enemy fire. Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians 1st Class Christopher Greene and Travis Holland were each presented with the Bronze Star with ...