It’s Time to Learn How to Blow Things Up Again


Western governments’ rapidly growing defense spending sounds like a straightforward equation: More spending equals more weapons.

But skilled weapons workers are in short supply, especially explosives experts, and without a sufficiently big bang behind them, even the most sophisticated weaponry is pointless. But blowing things up is not learned in a quick crash course. We need more explosives professors.

Read more…
Source: Foreign policy


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • Northern Ireland: Unexploded World War II mortar found in Co Armagh village

    January 22, 2024

    The PSNI said it received a report of a suspicious object found in the Woodlawn Heights area of the Co Armagh village at around 7.45pm on Sunday evening. Local officers held the scene overnight until Army bomb disposal experts attended the scene this morning. Following examination, it was confirmed that the object was an unexploded World ...

  • Cambodia: CMAC director general discusses demining cooperation with delegates from African countries

    January 22, 2024

    Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, met with delegates from 5 African countries to discuss demining cooperation. The meeting was held at the CMAC headquarters in Phnom Penh on Monday. The delegates consisted of Mike Rashid Fulla Obaldo, Director General of the National Mine Action Authority of South Sudan, Dahir Abdirahman Abdull, Director ...

  • Ukraine: 3,500 sappers currently available “not enough”

    January 21, 2024

    There are currently 3,500 sappers working in Ukraine, but this is an insufficient number for rapidly clearing mine-contaminated territories. Deputy Minister of Economy Ihor Bezkaravainyi, who coordinates humanitarian demining efforts, noted this in an interview with Ukrinform. “It’s 3,500 sappers, according to the latest data. But imagine, 3,500 people who know how to neutralize mines seems ...

  • US personnel injured as missiles target forces at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase

    January 20, 2024

    US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraq’s security forces was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base on Saturday, a US official said, citing initial assessments, which are subject to change. At least a dozen missiles were fired at a military base used by US-led coalition forces in western ...

  • Mexican soldiers find factory producing drone bombs, grenade launchers, fake military uniforms

    January 19, 2024

    Police and soldiers in Mexico have discovered a small factory used to make drone bombs, grenade launchers and fake military uniforms in a region where the Jalisco cartel and gangs have been waging turf wars. The facility, found late Wednesday by police and soldiers in the town of La Huacana in the western Michoacan state, had ...

  • Vietnam: Three Ca Mau men confirmed dead from bomb explosion

    January 19, 2024

    According to a report released on January 18 by the Ngoc Hien District People’s Committee, Nguyen Ngoc Tu, 42, found a bomb left from the American War in the Cua Lon River several days ago. He brought it home, intending to cut it to take scrap metal but was prevented by his family members due ...

  • Israel: IDF destroys Hamas weapons manufacturing hub in Gaza

    January 18, 2024

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), specifically the 36th Division in collaboration with the Yahalom and Shaldag units, has uncovered and dismantled a crucial part of Hamas’ weapons manufacturing infrastructure located near the Salah Al-Din Road in the Gaza Strip. According to an IDF statement, the exposed area served as a central hub for weapons factories and ...

  • Pakistan carries out ‘precision strikes’ on terrorist hideouts in Iran

    January 18, 2024

    Pakistan carried out early morning air strikes on terrorist hideouts in Iran’s Siestan-o-Balochistan province on Thursday in what appears to be a response to Tehran’s violation of its air space over a day ago. The Foreign Office (FO) confirmed the unprecedented action in a statement released shortly after. A day earlier, Pakistan recalled its ambassador from ...

  • Indian warship responds to drone attack on merchant vessel in Gulf of Aden

    January 18, 2024

    The Indian Navy’s frontline warship INS Visakhapatnam responded within an hour to the distress call by MV Genco Picardy following the drone attack at 2311 hours on Wednesday India’s guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam on Thursday swiftly responded to a distress call made by a merchant vessel that came under a drone attack in the Gulf ...

  • USCENTCOM Seizes Iranian Advanced Conventional Weapons Bound for Houthis

    January 16, 2024

    TAMPA, Fla. – On 11 January 2024, while conducting a flag verification, U.S. CENTCOM Navy forces conducted a night-time seizure of a dhow conducting illegal transport of advanced lethal aid from Iran to resupply Houthi forces in Yemen as part of the Houthis’ ongoing campaign of attacks against international merchant shipping. U.S. Navy SEALs operating from ...

  • Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on ship in Red Sea as US confirms new strike

    January 16, 2024

    Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a Malta-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea as the United States says it has launched a new strike on Houthi targets amid soaring tensions around the key waterway. “A Malta-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier was reportedly targeted and impacted with a missile while transiting the ...

  • Russia’s New FAB-1500 M54 Supersized Glide Bomb

    January 12, 2024

    The Russian military has offered the first clear look at a new glide bomb conversion kit with pop-out wings for the massive 1,500-kilogram (3,300-pound) class FAB-1500 M54. This weapon is three times larger than the Russian bombs with pop-out wing kits that have already become a major issue for Ukrainian forces and that have prompted notable ...

  • U.S. Central Command: U.S. Forces, Allies Conduct Joint Strikes

    January 12, 2024

    TAMPA, Fla. – On Jan. 12 at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets to degrade their capability to continue their illegal and reckless attacks on U.S. and international vessels and commercial shipping ...

  • Syria: Eight SAA soldiers and one civilian killed, 13 others injured in a terrorist attack in Palmyra

    January 9, 2024

    Eight soldiers were martyred Tuesday while 13 others were injured in a terrorist attack on a bus south of Palmyra in Homs eastern countryside. “Eight soldiers and one civilian were killed, 13 others were wounded in a terrorist attack with an explosive device on a military bus in Syrian al-Badyiah to the south of Palmyra,” Read more… Source: ...

  • Angola: Land mines kills six people in eastern Cuando Cubango province

    January 7, 2024

    At least six people were killed and 13 others have been injured in eastern Cuando Cubango province as a result of 13 land mine accidents recorded in 2023, ANGOP learnt Sunday in Menongue city. The figures were presented by the representative of the National Mine Action Agency (ANAM) in Cuando Cubango province, Marcial Cativa. At the ...

  • India dismisses reports of artillery shells being supplied to Ukraine

    January 4, 2024

    India on Thursday dismissed reports that artillery shells made in the country had been supplied to Ukraine by a European nation, with external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal saying there had been no such exports. Several reports, mainly on social media and in some foreign news websites, had stated that 155 mm artillery shells, similar to ...

  • Uganda: Bombs detonated after army helicopter crash in Ntoroko

    January 2, 2024

    Uganda’s army bomb squad Friday evening detonated explosives as a civilian military helicopter crash victim was buried in Ntoroko District amid tight security.Civilian John Mukidi was killed when the UPDF helicopter gunship crashed into his house in Nyamisigiri Village on the border of Kabarole and Ntoroko districts on Tuesday. “The bomb disposal team, currently at the ...

  • Ukraine neutralized over 6,000 mines and projectiles in December

    January 2, 2024

    In December 2023, the demining units of the State Special Transport Service were able to neutralize 6,171 explosive devices in Ukraine. This constitutes a significant portion of the total number of mines, shells, and other explosive devices laid since the beginning of the large-scale invasion by the Russian Federation. According to data from the State Special ...

  • Israel: IDF locates weapons lab, rocket launchers, strikes terrorists on Gaza beach

    January 2, 2024

    Over the last 24 hours, soldiers from Israel’s navy and ground infantry units have identified terrorists placing explosive charges on Gaza beaches and nearby buildings with the intent to attack IDF troops, the military spokesperson said on Tuesday. The navy, in cooperation with air and ground forces, killed several terrorists and destroyed explosives that posed a ...

  • Ukraine: 500,000 mines installed, second defense line is built

    December 30, 2023

    In northern Ukraine, military has laid 500,000 anti-tank mines. A second line of defense is being constructed near the border in case of a potential repeat invasion, reports the press-service of the Joint Forces Operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Military officials note that since the beginning of June 2022 and until now, over 500,000 ...

  • Israel: Bomb targets home in Herzliya Pituah neighborhood

    December 28, 2023

    An explosion rocked one of Israel’s most upscale streets on Wednesday evening, in what was the second incident within a day seemingly targeting family members of a business figure who has ties to the criminal underworld. The blast happened on Galei Tchelet Street in the affluent Herzliya Pituah neighborhood of the central city of Herzliya. Many ...

  • Iraq: Missing Kuwaiti and Saudi hunters killed by a leftover Islamic State group explosive in Anbar

    December 27, 2023

    The bodies of a Kuwaiti citizen and a Saudi with Kuwaiti residency who had disappeared in Iraq were found Tuesday, Kuwait’s minister of foreign affairs said in a statement. Iraqi security officials said the men, who had reportedly come to Iraq on a hunting trip, were killed by an explosive left behind by the Islamic State ...