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Systematic Test & Evaluation Of Metal Detectors: Interim Report Field Trials Mozambique, Dieter Guelle, Adam Lewis Aug 2006

Systematic Test & Evaluation Of Metal Detectors: Interim Report Field Trials Mozambique, Dieter Guelle, Adam Lewis

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission published at the end of 2005 another interim report for the STEMD project. This article gives background on the project and report and some results and recommendations of the trial. The authors hope this article will pique interest in the full report.


Mines And Erw, Bob Kudyba Aug 2006

Mines And Erw, Bob Kudyba

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Due to the history and nature of conflicts in the Ethiopia/Eritrea area, cleanup presents specific considerations and hazards. The lessons learned by the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea Mine Action Coordination Centre in mine/explosive remnants of war cleanup are presented, as well as recommendations on clearance operations for situations with mixed mine/ ERW like that in Ethiopia and Eritrea.


Power Tillers And Snails For Demining In Sri Lanka, Emanuela Cepolina Aug 2006

Power Tillers And Snails For Demining In Sri Lanka, Emanuela Cepolina

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This paper presents a project the author has been working on since January 2005 in the context of her doctoral research and offers some of the first results. The topic concerns the participatory design and development of a distributed system for humanitarian-demining operations in Sri Lanka. The completed research is expected to encompass the relationship among landmines, humanitarian technologies and development. This article looks at the adaptation of power tillers for demining applications in Sri Lanka using a participatory design methodology called the Snail System.


Steel Wheels In Mozambique, Johan Van Zyl Feb 2006

Steel Wheels In Mozambique, Johan Van Zyl

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This down-in-the-trenches story about using a Casspir fitted with steel wheels to demine in Mozambique in the early 1990s makes you feel like you are right there. Getting rid of the mines was not the only problem the deminers had; sometimes getting past the insurgents was more challenging.


Where Technology And Field Information Meet: The Metal Detector Handbook, Dieter Guelle, Andy Smith, A.M. Lewis, T.J. Bloodworth Jun 2004

Where Technology And Field Information Meet: The Metal Detector Handbook, Dieter Guelle, Andy Smith, A.M. Lewis, T.J. Bloodworth

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Metal Detector Handbook for Humanitarian Demining explains what all operators need to know about modern metal detectors. If trying to test, select or simply use a detector to its optimal ability, this handbook will show the user exactly what is needed. The handbook is in pocket A5 format and is resistant to field use.


The Minewolf Toolbox System: Ground Preparation To Mine Clearance, Heinz Rath Oct 2003

The Minewolf Toolbox System: Ground Preparation To Mine Clearance, Heinz Rath

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The MineWolf Toolbox System, which operates in minefields near Sarajevo, is a mine clearance device that has been used to improve efficiency and effectiveness in demining operations. This article discusses the benefits of the MineWolf Toolbox System and compares it to other demining machines and technology currently used to clear minefields.


Using Bomb Disrupters In Demining Operations, Jennifer Cox Oct 2003

Using Bomb Disrupters In Demining Operations, Jennifer Cox

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The use of bomb disrupters has substantially impacted the demining community from the time of their invention to the present. Proparms Ltd., a world leader in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) manufacturing, is making headway with its products, which will help continue along the path of landmine casualty reduction.


Systematic Test & Evaluation Of Metal Detectors, Noel Mulliner, Phil Bean, Francois Littmann Oct 2003

Systematic Test & Evaluation Of Metal Detectors, Noel Mulliner, Phil Bean, Francois Littmann

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Up-to-date and accurate information on available technology is urgently needed to help Mine Action Centres (MACs) and donors in the planning of demining activities and in the selection of the best-suited type of demining equipment. For this reason, the European Commission (EC) is starting a project to evaluate the performance of metal detectors on the market today.


Decision Support System For Demining Waterways, Nenad Mladineo, Snjezana Knezic Oct 2003

Decision Support System For Demining Waterways, Nenad Mladineo, Snjezana Knezic

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In the beginning of 2002, Croatian Waters, a state water management system, gave the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Split a project with the main objective of determining the optimal strategy for demining waterways by using contemporary scientific methods and tools.


Mechanical Application In Demining: Modernising Clearance Methods, Alexander Griffiths, Leonard Kaminsky Oct 2003

Mechanical Application In Demining: Modernising Clearance Methods, Alexander Griffiths, Leonard Kaminsky

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Even as mechanical mine clearance systems are increasingly employed throughout the world, the full potential of these machines remains to be seen. Further study of the issue has prompted the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) to release the “Study of Mechanical Application in Mine Action,” due in December 2003.


Testing And Use Of Demining Machines In The Republic Of Croatia, Ivan Steker Oct 2003

Testing And Use Of Demining Machines In The Republic Of Croatia, Ivan Steker

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In the course of achieving the quality employment of machines and their development, CROMAC is conducting the activities of testing, verification and accreditation of demining machines.


Locating Landmines And Uxo: A Methodological Lesson From The Ethiopian Landmine Impact Survey, Michael Fleisher Aug 2002

Locating Landmines And Uxo: A Methodological Lesson From The Ethiopian Landmine Impact Survey, Michael Fleisher

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

One of the most important parts about implementing effective Landmine Impact Surveys is first identifying which communities have a landmine/UXO problem. The author describes how Expert Opinion Collection (EOC) is used in Ethiopia to overcome the obstacles survey teams face when gathering their information.


International Standards For Personal Protective Equipment, Alastair Mcaslan, Keith Feigenbaum Jun 2000

International Standards For Personal Protective Equipment, Alastair Mcaslan, Keith Feigenbaum

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

International Standards for Mine Action are being revised by the United Nations. As part of the revision process, a working group on personal protective equipment (WGPPE) has been established to examine the subject of safety in mine clearance operations, and to make recommendations on standards and guidelines for PPE. This paper is based on the WGPPE's report.


Hobby Deminers In Quang Tri Province, Douglas Patt Jun 2000

Hobby Deminers In Quang Tri Province, Douglas Patt

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In the old days, anybody driving Highway 1 through the Vietnam central coastal regions could see neat stacks of unexploded ordnance (UXO) displayed everywhere beside the road. All the dangerous debris of past wars lay there like alien goods in storefront windows, each cairn marking the location of a scrap metal dealer. About four years ago, the Vietnamese government determined such displays inappropriate for a country moving to re-establish itself as a presence in the world community. The UXOs disappeared from view. The scrap metal dealers either removed their inventories to caches in the countryside or moved them behind screens.


The Human Touch, Russell Gasser, Terry Thomas Jun 2000

The Human Touch, Russell Gasser, Terry Thomas

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Biting insects, inaccessible terrain, impenetrable bamboo thickets and thorn bushes. Mine clearance in Cambodia is a hot, sweaty business at the best of times. Because tripwires hidden in the undergrowth could trigger explosions, the vegetation has to be cleared by hand before mine detection can start. It is a tedious matter and can occupy two-thirds of a mine clearer's working day.


The Swedish Mine Fighter: The Ultimate Mine- Clearance For Anti-Personnel Mines, Cisr Journal Jun 1999

The Swedish Mine Fighter: The Ultimate Mine- Clearance For Anti-Personnel Mines, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

New Swede Construction AB, NSC, AB, has since 1996, developed a mechanical mine clearance machine which can operate in areas where already existing machines cannot operate. The Swedish Mine Fighter is also an environmentally friendly machine since it does not destroy the ground where it operates. In initial tests using live mines placed in the ground, all mines were either destroyed or detonated.


Mechanical Assistance Systems For Humanitarian Mine & Uxo Clearance, Roger Hess Jun 1999

Mechanical Assistance Systems For Humanitarian Mine & Uxo Clearance, Roger Hess

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Removing the phrase "Mechanical Mine Clearance " from humanitarian demining terminology was an issue that gained approval from most during the Karlsruhe Conference. The amount of money spent within the last few years on systems that are now in the advanced stages of rigor mortis is staggering. Now there seems to be many questions about what is an acceptable standard for the new definition of "Mechanically Assisted Demining". In some perspectives the answer is fairly clear, but in others it is as dark as Turkish coffee.


Grab A Cup Of Coffee, Pull Up A Seat, And Have Your Credit Card Ready, Margaret S. Busé Jun 1999

Grab A Cup Of Coffee, Pull Up A Seat, And Have Your Credit Card Ready, Margaret S. Busé

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Shopping for mechanical mine clearance equipment? Well, check out the German Federal Foreign Office's Humanitarian Mine Action Equipment Catalog 1998/1999. The catalog showcases state of the art equipment available for mechanical mine clearance and detection.


Body Protection Systems For Use In Humanitarian Demining: Applying Hard Science And End-User Feedback To Improve Personal Protection For Deminers, Richard L'Abbe, Aris Makris, Derrick Poon Young Jun 1999

Body Protection Systems For Use In Humanitarian Demining: Applying Hard Science And End-User Feedback To Improve Personal Protection For Deminers, Richard L'Abbe, Aris Makris, Derrick Poon Young

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Somewhere between the tightening budgets of program managers, myriad of demining activities, and fatigue among donors, lies a life-threatening issue which receives limited attention within the hierarchy of themes defining humanitarian demining. According to a large cross-section of deminers around the world, personal protection for deminers is considered a poor second cousin to such themes as mine awareness and victim assistance. They say the issue of improving personal protection needs to be pushed higher up the demining agenda.


The Swedish Mine Fighter, An Interview With Mattias Willersjo, Catherine Harrigan, Mattias Willersjo Jun 1999

The Swedish Mine Fighter, An Interview With Mattias Willersjo, Catherine Harrigan, Mattias Willersjo

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

While mechanical mine clearance machines are regarded as an important part of the mine clearance effort, most experts agree that there is no one machine capable of clearing land mines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) to the 99.6% clearance standard recommended by the United Nations. Acknowledging this problem, but still recognizing the potential benefits of mechanical mine clearance machines, many field experts advocate a "toolbox" approach to mine clearance, using various mechanical mine clearance machines in tandem with manual mine clearance to achieve the 99.6% clearance standard.


Humanitarian Demining And Robotics, Y. Baudoin, M. Acheroy, M. Piette, J.P. Salmon Jun 1999

Humanitarian Demining And Robotics, Y. Baudoin, M. Acheroy, M. Piette, J.P. Salmon

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Mines were used for the first time during the American Civil War in the United States (1861-1865). Anti-tank mines were later ameliorated and laid on the battlefields of the First World War. Mine clearing operations did not pose major problems with those visible and easy-to-detect anti-tank mines. The reason why Anti-personnel mines have been conceived and systematically used on the anti-tank minefields during the Second World War was because such mines prevented the enemy from easy demining of the defense system.


The $64,000 Question: How Are We Going To Remove All Landmines In Ten Years?, Margaret S. Busé Jun 1999

The $64,000 Question: How Are We Going To Remove All Landmines In Ten Years?, Margaret S. Busé

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Thorsten Peter, of Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellscaft, manufacturers of the MINEBREAKER 2000 offers insight into the challenges of mechanical landmine clearance. "Humanitarian demining has to be accelerated. We can't go on at the pace we are presently going. It will simply take too long." -Mr. Thorsten Peter.


Magnetic Fragment Collection, James Trevelyan Jun 1999

Magnetic Fragment Collection, James Trevelyan

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In a typical manual mine clearance operation, deminers often spend nearly all of their time finding metal fragments in the search for anti-personnel mines. Often there is too much metal to be able to use metal detectors: then the deminers have to probe an entire minefield by hand, every 25 - 50 mm apart, or even dig through thousands of square metres of ground by hand.


Peacetrees Vietnam's Uxo Clearance Training Mission To Quang Tri Province, Roger Hess Feb 1999

Peacetrees Vietnam's Uxo Clearance Training Mission To Quang Tri Province, Roger Hess

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The president of UXB International, Dr. Richmond Dugger, had offered to help out an NGO called PeaceTrees Vietnam with their efforts to clear land mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the former demilitarized zone between what was North & South Vietnam. We would conduct a training course for the Vietnamese with UXB International covering the wages and airfare of two senior Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) employees, and donate five Shonstedt ferrous ordnance detectors.


Opportunities For An Integrated Demining Strategy In Rural Areas, U Weyl Feb 1999

Opportunities For An Integrated Demining Strategy In Rural Areas, U Weyl

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

As early as 1993, GTZ was one of the first organizations to recognize the importance of community mine awareness within the framework of mine survey and clearance operations. GTZ also recognized that there needs to be a partnership between the development organization and mine clearance operator. It is this partnership, which is the foundation upon which the IHDD concept has been built, modified and adapted. The CMAD concept has been developed for those communities that are deemed low priority for mine action support. The process of modification and adaptation has been continuous. It has spanned every facet of the concepts, …


The Operational Implementation Of The International Humanitarian Demining Development Concept, C.J. Pearce Feb 1999

The Operational Implementation Of The International Humanitarian Demining Development Concept, C.J. Pearce

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The International Humanitarian Demining Development (IHHD) concept did not evolve on a haphazard basis. The concept was born out of practical experience in Manica Province, Mozambique during the emergency relief phase between 1993 and 1995. Based on those experiences, and a serious concern that mine clearance was regarded as a purely technical activity with local involvement being relegated to by-stander status, GTZ and Mine-Tech held wide-ranging discussions over a lengthy period before defining the IHDD concept. Subsequently, with funding from the BMZ (German Ministry of Co-operation) two pilot projects were undertaken in Manica and Sofala Provinces, Mozambique. These pilot projects …


A Survey Of Research On Sensor Technology For Landmine Detection, Claudio Bruschini, Bertrand Gros Dec 1998

A Survey Of Research On Sensor Technology For Landmine Detection, Claudio Bruschini, Bertrand Gros

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

According to official figures, more than 100 million landmines lie buried around the world. Although intended for warfare, these mines remain active after warfare ends. Each day these mines are triggered accidentally by civilian activities, ravaging the land and killing or maiming innocent people. To help stop this destruction of the environment and humanity, the scientific community must develop effective humanitarian demining. Mine detection is especially vital to humanitarian demining. The goal of military demining is to clear enough mines quickly to allow troops through a land area. Military demining usually requires mine destruction rates of 80%. The goal of …


Data Standardization, Thomas Powell Oct 1998

Data Standardization, Thomas Powell

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

As the international community has placed increasing emphasis on efforts to identify, classify, neutralize, or remove landmines or other unexploded ordnance (UXO), the need to communicate information concerning the location, description, and hazards associated with these munitions has become apparent. Numerous database structures have been created to store information about the various munitions. However, different organizations, countries, or individuals have adopted their own unique data definitions and database structures, and these differences could affect the kinds of information available through these sources.


Report On The Detec-2 Testing In Cambodia November 18-21, 1997, Jean-Daniel Nicoud, Frédéric Guerne, John Brooks Jun 1998

Report On The Detec-2 Testing In Cambodia November 18-21, 1997, Jean-Daniel Nicoud, Frédéric Guerne, John Brooks

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The 2-year DeTec-2 project started at the end of 1995 as a continuation of our 1994-95 work on the Pemex demining robot to evaluate an antipersonnel mine sensor that is based on a combination of a metal detector (MD) and a ground-penetrating radar (GPR). The ERA radar was selected in early 1996, and we used the Schiebel, Förster and Ebinger metal detectors. We built a laboratory sandbox to evaluate the sensors under controlled conditions with the ultimate objective of conducting tests on a real minefield before the end of the project.


The U.S. Department Of Defense And The Role Of The Journal Of Humanitarian Demining, Robert L. Cowles Jan 1997

The U.S. Department Of Defense And The Role Of The Journal Of Humanitarian Demining, Robert L. Cowles

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Department of Defense (DoD) Humanitarian Demining program would like to thank the staff at James Madison University's Humanitarian Demining Information Center (HDIC) for creating the inaugural issue of The Journal of Humanitarian Demining.