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:
- Ireland: Gardaí probe if Aughinish bomb linked to Russian attack on Ukraine
July 6, 2025
Gardaí are investigating if a “viable” bomb found near a Russian-owned alumina refinery in Limerick last Friday had been a direct reaction to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. On Friday afternoon a bomb was discovered attached to a fuel tank that services the sports and social club building of the Russian-owned Aughinish Alumina refinery. A spokesman ...
- Ukraine: Bomb disposal experts destroy Russian drone armed with two mines in Sumy region
July 6, 2025
In the Sumy region, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialists destroyed the warhead of a Russian drone equipped with fragmentation mines. The Sumy Regional Police reported this on Telegram, according to Ukrinform. “One of the attack drones used by the enemy in daily strikes on the Sumy region was discovered in a settlement of the region. A ...
- EDU turns 50: Celebrating the past and high-tech future of the BC RCMP’s Explosives Disposal Unit
July 3, 2025
2025 marks a milestone for the BC RCMP’s Explosives Disposal Unit (EDU), as the unit celebrates 50 years of service in British Columbia. Started with just two part-time members in 1975 when the RCMP took over explosives work across BC, the unit has come a long way in the past five decades, especially given significant advancements ...
- Ukraine: In the first half of 2025, Ministry of Defence demining specialists cleared over 41,000 hectares of land
July 1, 2025
From January to June 2025, mine clearance units of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine cleared 41,243 hectares of land of explosive ordnance in areas previously liberated from russian occupation. This is nearly half the area of Kyiv or more than 57,000 standard football fields. Over the six-month period, 39,401.64 hectares of agricultural land were cleared, ...
- U.S. Navy and Marine Corps EOD Technicians Conduct Live Mine Countermeasure Operations During IWO-TO LIVE MINEX 2025
June 29, 2025
IWOTO, Japan – U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 5 participated in IWO-TO LIVE MINEX 2025, a bilateral mine countermeasures (MCM) exercise hosted annually by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), from June 5 to June 22. This year marks the fourth combined training between the U.S. ...
- Thailand: Hidden explosives uncovered in sand at Patong Beach
June 28, 2025
Holidaymakers were left rattled as police scoured Phuket’s beaches to unearth a series of hidden explosive devices planted by suspects intent on chaos. Police confirmed yesterday evening, June 27, that the last two devices connected to the suspects’ shocking confession have been safely recovered and neutralised. The first discovery was made at Patong Beach around 3.45pm, ...
- Maryland: Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal tech completes career at 20th CBRNE Command
June 27, 2025
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – A U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal master sergeant completed his more than two decades of Army service at the nation’s premier multifunctional Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) formation. Master Sgt. Thomas C. Holk retired from the U.S. Army at the 20th CBRNE Command on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, June 23. ...
- Cambodia discovers another war-left U.S. aerial bomb M117 in Takeo province
June 26, 2025
Cambodia has found and safely removed another war-left U.S.-made M117 aerial bomb in southern Takeo province, a mine clearance chief said late on Tuesday. Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC)’s Director General Heng Ratana said the massive bomb was spotted buried four meters deep in an area in Tram Kak district. “This M117 bomb, with the weight ...
- Thailand: Bomb squads destroy more devices in Phuket and Krabi
June 26, 2025
Police bomb squads destroyed suspected explosive devices in two southern tourist provinces on Thursday following the arrest of two suspects linked to a suspicious object found at the Phuket airport on Wednesday. Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams and officers from Provincial Police Region 8 arrived at Patong beach in Phuket at 11am on Thursday after a ...
- Thailand: Suspected explosive device destroyed at Phuket airport
June 25, 2025
Authorities have destroyed a suspicious object found in an abandoned motorcycle at Phuket International Airport on Wednesday evening. Officials from the police Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit and the K-9 police dog team conducted a detailed inspection of the motorcycle, which was left unattended on airport premises at about 7pm. An initial investigation revealed that an ...
- UK: Man dies and Bomb Squad called to incident in St Helens
June 25, 2025
Emergency services remain at the scene of a home in St Helens after multiple unexploded devices were discovered inside the property, prompting an evacuation and an overnight cordon. Officers were initially called to the address on Chadwick Road on Monday 23rd June following the death of a man in his 60s, which police confirmed was not ...
- Israel: Improvised explosive devices located and destroyed in Hebron area, suspect arrested
June 24, 2025
Security forces thwarted a potential terrorist attack after locating and destroying improvised explosive devices yesterday in Yatta in the Hebron area. Police reported that during searches inside a building, numerous ammunition and two explosive devices containing explosives and metal balls were found. A local resident suspect was arrested, and Border Police bomb disposal experts neutralized the ...
- Victoria: Man arrested after police locate guns and explosives in Churchill
June 24, 2025
Armed Crime Squad detectives have charged a man overnight after locating firearms and explosives in Churchill. A search warrant was executed at a residential property in Churchill yesterday afternoon (Monday, 23 June). As part of the search, police located what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in a nearby area. The area was cordoned off ...
- NZDF targets unexploded ordnance in Papua New Guinea
June 24, 2025
The Kiwis joined personnel from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Papua New Guinea, the United States and United Kingdom for Operation Render Safe, an operation that has been targeting explosive remnants of war (ERW) left throughout the Pacific after the Second World War for over 20 years. More than 25,000 people have been injured or killed in ...
- UK: Controlled explosion carried out on ‘unidentified liquid’ found in Sussex
June 24, 2025
A controlled explosion has been carried out on an “unidentified liquid” found in a house in Eastbourne. Residents from around 160 properties were safely evacuated from the area and an 85m cordon was put in place as a precaution. Sussex Police and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams say they were called to a property on Hyde ...
- ADF: Partnership safeguards Pacific communities
June 24, 2025
Australian Army engineers are providing explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) training to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) to help them safely manage unexploded ordnance. The Solomon Islands, a key battleground during the Pacific campaign of World War 2, remains littered with unexploded ordnance (UXO), including bombs, artillery shells, ammunition and old torpedoes. The International Mine ...
- Fort Carson: Evans Army Community Hospital tests emergency response capabilities
June 23, 2025
Evans Army Community Hospital hosted an emergency response exercise with the 62nd Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and the Fort Carson Police Department June 17, 2025. The training exercise tested the hospital staff’s ability to respond to an exercise bomb threat and gave military police and EOD personnel an opportunity to practice their ability to detect, ...
- Arizona: Three improvised explosive devices found near Sahuarita town
June 22, 2025
Law enforcement disabled three improvised explosive devices in southern Arizona within a single week, though no arrests have been made, according to Sahuarita police. About 7 p.m. on June 20, the Sahuarita Police Department received 911 calls reporting a suspicious, possibly explosive device in a residential area northeast of Interstate 19 and Sahuarita Road, the department ...
- UK: Bomb squad hunt for man with ‘five hand grenades’ in Midland suburb
June 21, 2025
A police bomb squad is urgently searching for a man who wandered off with five suspected hand grenades after seven in total were found in Hopwood. Two of the hand grenades were safely detonated by the bomb squad after they were discovered in a canal on Lea End Lane last night, June 20. They were found ...
- Russia: North Korea to send 1,000 sappers, 5,000 builders to restore Kursk Region
June 17, 2025
North Korean leader Kim Jong un will send 1,000 combat engineers and 5,000 military builders to help restore the Kursk Region, Russia’s Security Council quoted its Secretary Sergey Shoigu as saying after a visit to North Korea. “Chairman of the State Affairs of the DPRK Kim Jong un has decided to send 1,000 sappers to Russia ...
- Ukraine: Cost of demining 1 ha of farmland stands at UAH 62,000
June 16, 2025
Almost UAH 1 trillion will be required to clear lands contaminated with explosive devices in Ukraine, MP Nina Yuzhanina reported on Telegram. ” According to the Ministry of Economy, 30 auctions have been held since the beginning of 2025 to demined agricultural lands with a total area of 5,370 hectares. The final cost of the work ...
- Ukraine: Pace of humanitarian mine clearance increases by 50%
June 14, 2025
The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has reported that the scale of humanitarian mine clearance in Ukraine has increased by almost 50% over the past year. A total of 108 mine action operators have been certified, working to clear areas of explosive ordnance as of the beginning of June. Oleh Shuvarskyi, Head of the Mine Action ...

