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:
- Blast kills 5 demining experts in Yemen: security source
January 20, 2019
An explosion killed five demining specialists in war-torn Yemen’s central province of Maarib on Sunday, security and medical sources said. A pro-government security official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the the five were foreign experts working on the Saudi-backed Masam landmine clearance project. AFP could not independently confirm which countries they came from. The ...
- South Sudan could be mine-free in 5 years: UN official
January 19, 2019
South Sudan in the next five years would be cleared of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind by more than two decades of war, a United Nations mines agency official said on Wednesday evening. Speaking at a ceremony for disposal of a large aircraft bomb that was found some 1.8 km west of the country’s ...
- Britain grants funding for UXO clearance in Laos
January 17, 2019
Mines Advisory Group (MAG) Laos has been granted more than 38 billion kip (4.5 million U.S. dollars) in funding from the British government for its unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance operations in Laos. With the grant, MAG will conduct UXO clearance for 13 months in Xieng Khuang province in northern Laos, along with UXO clearance, a non-technical ...
- Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group One Holds Change of Command
January 10, 2019
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group One (EODGRU1) held a change of command ceremony Jan. 10 on Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. During the ceremony, Capt. Oscar Rojas relieved Capt. Dean Muriano as the commodore of EODGRU1. During his speech, Muriano thanked the many people who had assisted him over the course of his tour. “All of the accomplishments that ...
- Over 20 anti-tank landmines deactivated in Cunene, Angola
January 7, 2019
At least twenty two anti-tank mines and 10 anti-personnel landmines were deactivated and destroyed in the province of Cunene during the year 2018, the liaison officer of the National Intersectoral Committee on Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH), Mario Satipamba said Friday. Speaking to ANGOP on the activity of the sector, the official pointed out that in ...
- How to spec out an EOD response truck
January 7, 2019
An explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) response truck is a critically important addition to a modern police department With domestic terrorist attacks being a growing concern for U.S. police departments, many are choosing to acquire one or more EOD response trucks to deal with suspected bombs in their jurisdictions. These rugged, blast-hardened vehicles are designed to efficiently carry bomb ...
- North Korean delegation in Cambodia to learn about demining, bomb clearance
January 7, 2019
A group of North Koreans from various organizations traveled to Cambodia recently to exchange information and learn from that country’s experience clearing mines, bombs, and other remnants of war, according to a local government official who led the meetings. “The International Red Cross has sponsored and lead a delegation of North Korea (sic)” to meet with ...
- Egypt policeman killed defusing bomb near Coptic church
January 6, 2019
A policeman has been killed trying to defuse a bomb outside a Coptic Christian church in Egypt, security officials say. Mustafa Abid was reportedly a specialist in mine clearance. The explosion injured two other officers and an onlooker. The device was one of two hidden in a bag on a roof by the church in Nasr City ...
- Liz McInnes MP gives support to Manchester-based Nobel Prize winners
January 2, 2019
Liz McInnes, MP for Heywood and Middleton and Shadow Foreign Minister, has visited Mines Advisory Group (MAG) – based in Manchester – to discuss their work and offer her support for their work of land mine clearance and ammunition disposal. MAG is a charity which since 1989 has worked around the world to find and destroy ...
- Angola: Over nine million square meters cleared of landmines
December 31, 2018
An area of more than nine million square meters of land was demined in Moxico province during this year, plus 7,7 million square meters compared to 2017. The information was released Sunday in Angolan city of Luena by the official of the National Inter-sectoral Committee for Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH) of the province of Moxico, ...
- Motorbike-borne IED defused in PIB Colony raid
December 31, 2018
The East Range police have responded timely to foil a terrorism bid by impounding a motorbike from PIB Colony that was fitted with an IED. East Range police chief DIG Amir Farooqi told The News that in view of the incoming new year and the recent attempts at disturbing the peace of Karachi, they had beefed ...
- Drones Used to Find Toylike “Butterfly” Land Mines
December 28, 2018
A type of land mine called the “butterfly” has a particularly insidious reputation for two reasons: It is known for killing or crippling children who may pick up what looks a lot like a green plastic toy, and its mostly nonmetallic construction means it often evades traditional mine detectors. Butterfly mines’ light-touch detonators go off ...
- Almost 1,700 Defence Forces members served in UN operations in 2018
December 27, 2018
Almost 1,700 members of the Defence Forces served in United Nations and Irish Government-mandated operations in 14 countries around the world in 2018, according to data published on Friday by the military. In addition, at home, the Army conducted almost 200 operations at the request of An Garda Síochána, many of them involving explosive ordnance disposal carried out by bomb disposal experts from ...
- UK military’s bomb disposal robots come with haptic feedback
December 25, 2018
Bomb disposal experts won’t have to put their lives at stake every time they have to disarm an explosive if they can do their job with the help of a proxy — like a robot they can control from afar. According to the UK Ministry of Defence, the British Army has received four cutting-edge robots that can ...
- Italy donates 585,000 euros to explosive hazard clearance in Iraq
December 20, 2018
Italy has committed a further 585,000 euros to UNMAS, the UN’s mine clearing agency, to support efforts to clear Iraq of landmines and unexploded remnants of war, allowing displaced families to return. Years of war with ISIS have left the ground and buildings of Iraq saturated with explosive hazards. Until this complex work is complete, reconstruction ...
- ‘Guns and explosives’ found in houses in Shildon and Darlington
December 20, 2018
A large number of suspected firearms and explosives were found at three properties in County Durham and Darlington. A police spokesperson said: “Upon entering the property, officers located a large quantity of suspected firearms and what appeared to be explosive material. Bomb disposal experts attended one address in Shildon and two in Darlington after police received a report that a ...
- Army bomb squad called to remove two explosive devices from property in Louth, Ireland
December 20, 2018
The Army Bomb Disposal Team has removed two explosive devices from a property in Louth. The team was called to a house in Drogheda yesterday evening to remove the improvised explosive devices, following a request from gardaí. The team arrived at the property at 6.00pm and evacuated a number of houses in the area to ensure the ...
- Dedicated mine clearance service now part of Belarusian army
December 19, 2018
A dedicated mine clearance unit has been created in the Belarusian army, BelTA learned from Chief of the Engineer Corps, Chief of the Engineer Corps Office of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, Colonel Andrei Kurakov. According to the source, a countermine service has been created as part of the staff of ...
- The European Union continues to support explosive hazard management and capacity enhancement activities in liberated areas of Iraq
December 18, 2018
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) thanks the European Union for its continuous support to explosive hazard management and capacity enhancement activities in liberated areas of Iraq, which contributes to the safe, orderly and dignified return of displaced communities and enables humanitarian and stabilization efforts. Across liberated areas, explosive hazard contamination prevents access for humanitarian ...
- Houses evacuated after improvised explosive device found in Co Meath
December 17, 2018
An improvised explosive device has been found and made safe in Co Meath. Gardaí called the Defence Force’s bomb squad to the scene at Brews Hill in Navan in the early hours of this morning. After arriving at the scene at around 3:20am, the bomb disposal team discovered a ‘viable IED’ in a vehicle. A public cordon was ...
- Registered areas in Kulbus locality, west Darfur declared free of explosive remnants of war
December 17, 2018
UNAMID and the Government of Sudan (GoS) on 10 December 2018 officially declared the registered contaminated areas at Kulbus Locality, West Darfur, free of Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO). This followed the successful implementation of a project to clear the land of ERW and UXO, in line with UNAMID’s mandate to protect ...
- CMAC meets Thai counterparts over joint demining work
December 14, 2018
The Cambodian Mine Action Centre and Thai Mine Action Centre met on Wednesday in Thailand’s Sakeo province to select areas to be jointly demined along the border. Heng Ratana, CMAC director-general, said in a statement on Wednesday that the meeting focused on strengthening demining cooperation between the two institutions, especially along the Cambodian-Thai border for the ...
