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
Related:
- ‘Iron harvest:’ A Belgian team unearths unexploded ammunition from WWI
August 4, 2023
In a muddy field in Flanders, in northern Belgium, there are signs of a recent harvest along its edge — raw potatoes here and there. But toward the back of the field, members of DOVO, the Belgian military’s bomb disposal unit, inspect something else yielded by the harvest — an artillery shell that is more than ...
- IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine – Update 177
August 4, 2023
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts have observed no mines or explosives on the rooftops of Unit 3 and Unit 4 reactor buildings and the turbine halls at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), after having been given access yesterday afternoon, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today. Following repeated requests, the team had unimpeded access ...
- Ukrainian Drone Boat Scores Direct Hit On Russian Warship
August 4, 2023
A Russian Navy amphibious landing ship appears to have been badly damaged as the result of a Ukrainian drone attack early this morning. Different videos and photos show the apparent attack on the Ropucha class vessel Olenegorsky Gornyak, as well as its aftermath, with the ship left listing in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, ...
- Ukraine is 3D printing bombs to keep up with its battlefield demands
August 2, 2023
Ukraine is 3D-printing bombs as it looks for alternative ways to supply enough weaponry for its fight back against Russia’s military, according to a new report. The Economist reported that Ukraine has turned to “candy bombs” amid weapons and ammunition shortages, with the publication speaking to several different amateur groups involved in the task. One group ...
- Ugandan peacekeepers starts clearing unexploded ordnances in DR Congo
August 1, 2023
The Ugandan peacekeeping troops have embarked on demining and clearing unexploded ordnances in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit of Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) Contingent is clearing unexploded ordnances from several plantations, fields, and bushes within the villages of Mabenga in DRC’s North Kivu Province, the UPDF ...
- Türkiye discovers unexploded artillery shells in Black Sea
July 31, 2023
Türkiye’s Naval Forces Command detected at least 28 unexploded artillery shells in the Black Sea, local authorities in Istanbul said Monday. Investigations conducted by the underwater defense forces revealed that the objects were unexploded artillery shells, the governor’s office said in a statement. Read more… Source: Daily Sabah
- KOICA applauds progress in Cambodia’s mine clearance
July 29, 2023
The success story of the mine clearance project, a collaboration between Cambodia and South Korea, was given high praise recently, as significant strides have been made in alleviating mine threats in the Kingdom. Senior minister Ly Thuch, who also serves as first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), held a ...
- IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine – Update 176
July 29, 2023
Yesterday, the IAEA team visited reactor unit 5 where they observed the reactor vessel, spent fuel pool and the steam generator. The team noted that all equipment seemed to be in normal condition. There were no restrictions during the visit and the team did not observe any mines or explosives. However, during a walkdown within the ...
- UK: Evacuation after man takes WW2 explosive home
July 28, 2023
Several residential streets were evacuated after a man told the police about a suspected World War Two bomb he had brought home to his garden. Rob Parkin, from Rachub, Gwynedd, discovered what he thought was a mortar at a quarry 20 years earlier “and stupidly brought it home”. “It crossed my mind occasionally that maybe there ...
- UK: Controlled explosion of WW2 bomb found on seabed
July 27, 2023
A controlled explosion has been carried out by Royal Navy divers off the north coast of Guernsey. Police said what was thought to be “an airdropped weapon” from World War Two was detonated at 10:15 BST. It said the device was discovered by a local diver. The navy identified it as a German-made SC500 bomb. The ...
- Greece: Wildfire in the Volos area triggers explosions at an ammunition depot and the relocation of fighter jets
July 27, 2023
A wildfire whipped on by strong winds triggered a series of massive explosions Thursday at an air force ammunition depot in central Greece, while firefighters worked to tame multiple blazes in the country. There were no injuries at the depot, which had been evacuated before the explosions, and by late Thursday the fire was no longer ...
- IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine – Update 175
July 24, 2023
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts have observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today. During a walkdown on 23 July, the IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers. ...
- How controversial cluster munitions give Ukraine needed punch during counteroffensive
July 23, 2023
Ukraine has begun using American cluster munitions in the field and is doing so effectively, according to the White House. “They are using them appropriately,” National Security Spokesman John Kirby said on July 21. “They’re using them effectively, and they are actually having an impact on Russia’s defensive formations and Russia’s defensive maneuvering. I think ...
- India: Scrap dealer arrested with ammunition, explosives of the Indian Army in Ahmednagar
July 23, 2023
The Ahmednagar district police, in a joint operation with the Military Intelligence (MI) unit of the Southern Command in Pune, arrested a scrap dealer near his house in Karjune Khare on Friday evening for illegal possession of ammunition and explosives. During searches, police recovered “18 tank rounds, five mortar rounds, eight ammunition pistol rounds, 16 pistol ...
- Pakistan: 665 militant attacks reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since June 2022
July 23, 2023
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have said 665 militant attacks, including 15 suicide bombings, were reported in the province between June 18, 2022, and June 18, 2023. They also reported 382 gun attacks, 107 grenade blasts, 145 IED explosions, 15 rocket and missile hits, and two vehicle-borne IED attacks in the province during that period. According to ...
- Russia: Four reporters injured in Ukrainian cluster munitions strike
July 22, 2023
Four Izvestiya and RIA Novosti reporters were injured in a Ukrainian cluster munitions strike at the Zaporozhye Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday, adding that RIA Novosti reporter Rostislav Zhuravlyov died during evacuation. “At about 12:00 on July 22, 2023, Ukrainian forces carried out an artillery strike at a group of Izvestia and RIA Novosti ...
- Ukraine is now the most mined country. It will take decades to make safe
July 22, 2023
In a year and a half of conflict, land mines — along with unexploded bombs, artillery shells and other deadly byproducts of war — have contaminated a swath of Ukraine roughly the size of Florida or Uruguay. It has become the world’s most mined country. The transformation of Ukraine’s heartland into patches of wasteland riddled with ...
- DR Congo: Nine killed in North Kivu bomb blast
July 20, 2023
At least nine people have been killed and 16 injured after an explosive device accidentally detonated in a field in conflict-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources said on Thursday. The blast occurred on Wednesday evening in Lubwe Sud in North Kivu province’s Rutshuru territory. Justin Mwangaza, a local civil-society figure, told AFP that a civilian ...
- Ukraine says cluster munitions will be ‘game changer’ against Russia
July 11, 2023
Kyiv sees cluster munitions as the next “game changer” in its battle against Russian forces, Ukraine’s defense minister said Tuesday. Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Oleksiy Reznikov rejected disapproval from some countries and humanitarian groups over the U.S. government’s decision last week to send Ukraine the controversial weapons. Reznikov insisted the use of ...
- Game-changer or war crime? D.C. divided on cluster bombs
July 9, 2023
President Joe Biden’s decision to include cluster bombs in the latest $800 million weapons package for Ukraine has drawn disparate reactions from members of Congress, with some Democrats breaking with Biden. “Cluster bombs should never be used. That is crossing a line,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think ...
- Over 120 people wounded by Lepestok in Donetsk People’s Republic
July 8, 2023
More than 120 people, including 10 children, received various injuries after stepping on Lepestok anti-personnel landmines in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), acting DPR head Denis Pushilin told TASS on Saturday. The latest incident involving a Lepestok anti-personnel landmine in the DPR occurred on July 6. The victim, a man born in 1977, was hospitalized with ...
- Croatian RAK-SA-12 now actively used in Ukrainian Armed Forces
June 6, 2023
The SBGS shared photos on their Facebook account, highlighting the 128-mm multiple launch rocket systems transferred by Croatia as part of military defense assistance. These mini-MLRS can unleash a barrage of 12 shells of a 128 mm caliber in just 9.6 seconds, providing a formidable defense capability. The newly released images feature not only the MLRS ...