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:
- S. Korea Donates Demining Equipment to Ukraine
December 22, 2023
South Korea has reportedly donated demining machines to Ukraine as humanitarian assistance. According to the South Korean embassy in Ukraine on Thursday, two demining machines and ten pickup trucks were handed over to Ukraine at a ceremony in Kyiv in a partial fulfillment of an earlier aid promise of ten demining machines and 100 trucks in ...
- India: Security forces unearth three IEDs in joint campaign
December 20, 2023
In a significant development in the ongoing anti-Naxal campaign, security forces, including Chaibasa Police, CRPF, and Jharkhand Jaguar, unearthed three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from the hilly area around village Kudaburu under Sonuwa police station in West Singhbhum district. The incident unfolded during a joint campaign, with the bomb disposal squad playing a crucial role in ...
- Ukraine: Over 200,000 hectares of agricultural land put back into use since beginning of the year
December 19, 2023
Ukraine’s and non-governmental operators’ bomb disposal units have inspected and brought back into use over 200,000 hectares of agricultural land since the beginning of the year. “Our bomb disposal experts from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, State Transport Special Service and non-governmental mine action operators are performing very well. We are inspecting 3,000 to 5,000 hectares of ...
- UK: Three Second World War bombs detonated on Walton beach
December 19, 2023
The Walton Coastguard Rescue team and the explosive Ordnance Disposal team were sent to inspect part of Walton beach on Saturday. Upon arrival the crews discovered three unexploded ordnances which following an inspection were confirmed to be from the Second World War. The mortar rounds are understood to have washed up on the beach during low ...
- Australia: Risky business just another day at the office
December 18, 2023
It might have been a relatively simple task for Sergeant David Bailey, but rendering safe a 500lb bomb amidst vital national infrastructure in Nauru was a complex situation. The procedure on December 13 was a vital task for Sergeant Bailey, who led a team as part of Operation Render Safe. But, as he pointed out, “we ...
- Greece: Explosive device deactivated near riot police HQ in Zografou
December 18, 2023
The bomb disposal squad discovered and defused an explosive device near the headquarters of the riot police officers (MAT) in the district of Zografou in central Athens on Monday. Unidentified individuals had earlier sent an audio message to the Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper and the Zougla news website, alerting them to the placement of a bomb ...
- Northern Ireland: Pipe bomb explodes outside Belfast home
December 16, 2023
A pipe bomb exploded in the garden of a house in Dunmurry on Friday. Detectives are investigating the attack in Sunnymede Park, which was reported shortly after 11.30pm. The pipe bomb had partially exploded and a number of people were evacuated from their homes as a precaution while police and ammunition technical officers examined the scene. Read ...
- UNDP and the Netherlands forge $10 million partnership for mine action in Ukraine
December 16, 2023
In a landmark development for Ukraine’s recovery and safety, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands announce a new partnership, marked by acontribution of $10 million towards mine action in Ukraine. The initiative will focus on accelerating the clearance of landmines using state-of-the-art technology and bolstering Ukraine’s capacity to manage mine ...
- California: Bomb squad detonates improvised explosive device found in Placer County
December 16, 2023
A bomb squad team safely detonated a potentially deadly improvised explosive device that was found off a road in Placer County earlier this week, the sheriff’s office said. The device looked like a pressure cooker with wires coming from it, the sheriff’s office said. Patrol deputies found the device near a rural residence off Ravine Road ...
- UK: Edinburgh bomb squad detonated historic device at Cramond beach
December 16, 2023
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officers were spotted on Cramond beach as they detonated a historic object that was found in a residential area. Edinburgh police were called to the Craigmillar Park area at around 3.25pm on Friday 15 December. They say that a historical ordnance was found and as a result the EOD team attended to ...
- Chinese peacekeepers fulfill commitments on peacekeeping battlefield in Lebanon
December 15, 2023
The 21st Chinese peacekeeping multi-role engineering company to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), formed by troops from a brigade under the PLA 75th Group Army, concluded its peacekeeping mission and returned to China successfully on the early morning of December 13. The 21st Chinese peacekeeping multi-role engineering company to UNIFIL completed mine-clearing, explosive ...
- U.S. Army EOD techs leverage expertise at Johns Hopkins University cluster munitions forum
December 12, 2023
WASHINGTON – U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians participated in a forum conducted by one of the nation’s premier engineering schools to learn better ways to confront and defeat cluster munitions during large-scale combat operations. Army EOD technicians attended the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering Cluster Munitions Forum in Washington, D.C. The forum addressed ...
- Washington: Bomb squad demonstrates emergency security at Port of Port Angeles
December 11, 2023
Five members of the Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad visited Marine Terminal 1 on the Port Angeles waterfront last week. They weren’t there to detonate an improvised explosive device, identify a biochemical threat or investigate a suspicious package, but to make a presentation to members of the Port of Port Angeles security staff about the response ...
- Hawaii: TSA discovers anti-aircraft ammunition in checked bag at Honolulu airport
December 9, 2023
TSA agents at the Honolulu airport had to evacuate a checked baggage room Friday morning after an “anti-aircraft round of ammunition” was found in a luggage. It happened around 5:30 a.m. when TSA’s security screening x-ray technology flagged a checked bag for a potential security threat. TSA officers and an agency explosive specialist reviewed the x-ray ...
- Japan pledges $4.5 billion more in aid for Ukraine
December 8, 2023
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged $4.5 billion to Ukraine, including $1 billion in humanitarian aid to help support the war-torn country’s recovery effort in an online summit of leading industrial nations. Kishida made the announcement late Wednesday in Tokyo while hosting his last Group of Seven summit as this year’s chairperson. The $1 billion humanitarian and ...
- Paris police expect 2024 Olympics to be ‘considerable challenge’ for bomb disposal squad
December 5, 2023
The Paris police bomb disposal team expect the Olympics to present them with a “considerable challenge” next year. They have been working with Paris 2024 organisers to define the right level of bomb clearing intervention during the Olympics and Paralympics in the French capital next summer, the director of the central police laboratory said on Monday. ...
- Ukraine to receive €1.5 million for humanitarian demining from Slovenia
December 5, 2023
Slovenia will provide €1.5 million to Ukraine for humanitarian demining. The agreement was signed by Andrii Taran, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Slovenia, and Tanja Fajon, Slovenian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs. Following the agreement’s terms, the funds will be provided by the end of 2023 without the need for ...
- Nigeria: Police defuse IED at the University of Maiduguri
December 5, 2023
The Police Command in Borno State said it successfully defused an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the entrance of the University of Maiduguri on Monday. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Nahum Daso, confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Maiduguri. Daso said that around ...
- Hong Kong police arrest 2 men, seize chemicals capable of producing explosives
December 5, 2023
The two men, 33-year-old Ho Chi-hin and 34-year-old Ng Tsz-kit, appeared at the Eastern Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday after they were arrested on Sunday near Nam Fung Road in Aberdeen. Authorities seized some 30 kg of various types of chemicals, scales, distillation equipment, laboratory apparatus, mobile phones, laptops, and notes on making explosives. Following a preliminary ...
- Ukraine: Sea mine that washed ashore in Odesa Oblast disabled
December 4, 2023
A sea mine that washed ashore near the town of Prymorske in Odesa Oblast after recent storms was disabled by counter-mine units from Ukraine’s navy, according to an announcement by the navy’s official Facebook page on Dec. 4. Hundreds of sea mines, deployed by both Russia and Ukraine, are spread throughout the Black Sea. On several ...
- UK: Bomb squad detonate ornamental garden missile
December 3, 2023
A couple who kept a live bomb as a garden ornament have said they were sorry that their “old friend” had been detonated by a disposal unit. The missile, which had been outside the home of Sian and Jeffrey Edwards, is thought to date back to the late 19th century. The couple, from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, ...
- Falkland Islands: Mines discovered on a beach in Murrell Peninsula, north of Stanley
November 29, 2023
The Falkland Islands Government has confirmed that a number of mines have been discovered on Hell’s Kitchen beach on the designated Government Reserve, located on the Murrell Peninsula East Falkland, north of Stanley. The area was a suspect area on minefield maps. During the demining program the location was surveyed and cleared for mines. Thorough work ...