Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Afghanistan Landmine Impact Survey, Patrick Fruchet, Mike Kendellen

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The fieldwork for the Afghanistan Landmine Impact Survey was completed in January 2005, and the United Nations certified it 30 Sept. 2005. The final ALIS report is expected to be published in March 2006. This article provides an overview of the findings and how the mine action community in Afghanistan is using the results in its strategic planning.

Lrc System Allows Remote Disposal, Frederick L. Barthold

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Panther Ridge Research initially designed a Laser Receiver Controller system for the blasting industry where non-electric shock tubing could be used as the lead for initiating the blast-hole pattern of the material to be blasted (known as the overburden). Presently, the system is being modified for the explosive ordnance disposal and unexploded ordnance technician. This tool was designed “by a tech for a tech,” and it is anticipated it will save operators many grueling hours of setting up the disposal sites, as well as cleanup after operations are completed.

Rats To The Rescue: Results Of The First Tests On A Real Minefield, Ron Verhagen, Frank Weetjens, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Mic Billet

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The study in this article showed that using rats to evaluate mine risk is a very promising mine-detection method. When three rats were used to evaluate a contaminated area, the success rate was 95 percent, showing that rats can be a speedy and cost-effective means of mine detection.

How Deminer Position Contributes To Injury, François-Xavier Jetté, Jean-Philippe Dionne, Ismail El Maach, Aris Makris, Matt Ceh, Denis Bergeron

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Research shows injury risks to deminers can vary depending on their body positioning. Here, the authors present the preliminary results of a study testing the effects of body position on deminer injury using mannequins. They hope to refine further their methodology and continue to learn information that will benefit the demining community.

Blast Protection For Uxo Operations Including Demining, Glenn Miles

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Mines, UXO and improvised explosive devices are explosive hazards that have proliferated for many decades. In a post-conflict scenario, these are sometimes known collectively as explosive remnants of war. While global initiatives have limited the spread of certain types of devices (especially anti-personnel mines), a considerable problem still exists and will continue for many years to come.

Developing Alternatives: The Locality Demining Model In Cambodia, Rupert Leighton

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Mines Advisory Group has developed a new demining model that trains local citizens to clear mines in their own villages. After using the model for almost 12 months, MAG shows this method is as thorough as Mine Action Team units and requires fewer resources.

Qr Hits A Homerun: Landmine-Detection Systems Based On Quadrupole Resonance Technology Show Progress, Peter Turner, Caroleen L. Williams

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This study explains how quadrupole resonance technology in mine-detection systems improves with use and drastically reduces false alarms and deminer fatigue.

Roadmap For Mine Action Robotic Technology Development, Pedro Santana, António Mestre, José Barata, Luís Flores

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This paper presents some of the AMI-02 project preliminary work. The project is being developed by Integrators for Robotic Systems (IntRoSys) with funding from the Portuguese National Defence Ministry. The strong bond between Portugal and some African countries (i.e., former Portuguese colonies) is the main drive for the application of this project.

Protection Against Secondary Fragmentation From Ap Mines Based On Natural Fibre Composites, Paul Wambua, Marc Pirlont, Ignaas Verpoest

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The 1997 Ottawa Convention defines a mine as "a munition designed to be placed under or near the ground or other surface area and to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of person or a vehicle." An AP mine is defined as "a mine designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons."

The Benefits Of A Regional Approach To Mine Action, Suzanne Fiederlein

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

For well over a decade, landmine clearance has figured prominently in the post-conflict reconstruction and national reconciliation processes in Latin America. During armed conflicts in Central America in the 1970–80s, combatants on both sides used anti-personnel landmines. As the conflicts drew to a close and peace agreements were negotiated, the removal of landmines emerged as both an agenda item in negotiations and an obstacle to address in the post-conflict reconstruction phase. El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua all commenced landmine clearance efforts in individualized ways based on the context of their national conflicts.

Development Of Mine Hand: An Extended Prodder For Protected Demining Operations, Naota Furihata, Shigeo Hirose

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Manual operations remain indispensable in the demining process despite the use of heavy machines in the field. Although considerable research has focused on demining sensors, automated machines and heavy machines, research has paid little attention to devices used in manual operations. The objective of this paper is to detail the development of a new device for manual operations. This machine increases the safety of manual operations and aids in the most dangerous process of APM removal.

Some Steps To A Refined Rest Technology, Kai-Uwe Goss

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In the Remote Explosive Scent Tracing (REST) technology, air from a suspect site is passed through a filter in order to trap the target odor. The filter is then analyzed in a laboratory environment, usually by animals. Although REST is a potentially efficient technology for area reduction, it appears that there has not yet been any strict optimization of the technical procedure. The following work gives a theoretical analysis of the REST concept and first results of a lab study on the performance of various filters for the sampling of gaseous 2,4-DNT.

Systematic Test And Evaluation Of Metal Detectors: The Ec's Stemd Project, Dieter Guelle, A.M. Lewis

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

There is an international need for people within the humanitarian demining community (HDC) to be informed about appropriate metal detectors for the clearance process. Those involved in information exchange within the HDC will know that metal detector trials are performed regularly. User requirements and test results can easily be published because a network exists within the HDC. The Journal of Mine Action itself is part of this network and readers will probably also be familiar with the websites and publications of the International Test and Evaluation Program for Humanitarian Demining (ITEP) and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). …

Itep Test Trials For Detection Reliability Assessment Of Metal Detectors, Christina Mueller, Mate Gaal, Martina Scharmach, Sylke Bär, A.M. Lewis, T.J. Bloodworth, Dieter Guelle, Peter-Th Wilrich

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The total detection reliability of a mine-searching system is governed by the following three elements:

• Intrinsic capability, which describes the basic physical-technical capability of the method.
• Application factors, which include those due to environment.
• Human factor, which is the effect of human operators on the detection reliability.

Some of these can be determined in simple laboratory measurements in which the effect on detection capability of individual parameters is measured. However, the human factor and some aspects of the effects of environmental conditions on the system need to be treated statistically.

U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research And Development Program Provides "Reach-In" Technology, Chris Wanner

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

When mine clearance operations closed down on June 12, 2004, for the last time in Honduras, U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) prototype equipment on trial was there to help complete the work started nearly one decade ago. Progress in reaching this milestone had stalled in 2002. Lack of a solution to a troublesome combination of environmental and threat factors remained beyond the capability of normal clearance procedures at one of the last remaining mine-suspected areas left in Honduras. Conventional clearance methods had revealed evidence of a mixture of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines buried under a meter …

Data Fusion For Mine Action Decision Support: An Example From Lebanon, Aldo Benini, Charles Conley

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Within humanitarian mine action, progress in integrating information is manifest chiefly by the way the traditional array of survey activities have been reformed. Following the 1997 Ottawa Treaty to ban anti-personnel mines, several mine action non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) launched the Global Landmine Survey, a multi-country survey project. This initiative has helped to institutionalize the collection of social and economic data, along with contaminated-area data, to enhance the overall management of mine action programs worldwide, and in that sense has achieved a paradigm change over the erstwhile purely technical approach to mine clearance.

Optimising The Use Of Rest For Mine Detection, Ian Mclean, Rebecca Sargisson

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Remote Explosive Scent Tracing (REST) is a detection technology involving the transfer of odours to an animal detector using filters. Like Remote Scent Tracing (RST), the technology could potentially be used to detect anything that has an odour. REST technology was used originally by Mechem in Mozambique and Angola in the early 1990s. Despite the potential it demonstrated at that time, it received little attention or investment through the late 1990s until a revival of interest occurred in recent years. Currently, it is being used operationally for mine detection in Afghanistan and is likely to be implemented for road clearance …

Landmine And Uxo Safety: The “Duty Of Care”, Sebastian Kasack

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

A long wheelbase Landcruiser can seat 13 people: five in the front and eight in the rear. Usually those sitting in the rear cannot use seat belts because there are none, and those in front often choose not to wear them. Besides, at the end of the world, as the Portuguese called the southeastern corner of Angola, it is very unlikely you will meet another car anyway, so why wear seat belts?

Fusing Aerial Multispectral Imagery And High-Resolution Photography, Milan Bajic

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Aerial remote sensing is useful for spotting indicators in the survey of mine-suspected areas and minefields. Because the detection of landmines in the soil and under the vegetation cover is not yet practical, the minefield indicators and their electromagnetic signatures provide means for detection of the mine-suspected areas and minefields. The minefield indicators can be natural (e.g., vegetation cover) over a large spatial extent, or else artificial or man-made (e.g., trenches, bunkers, demolished objects) over a small spatial extent. The dimensions of artificial minefield indicators require use of multi-spectral sensors and aerial images with spatial resolution below one meter. Due …

Machines Can Get The Job Done Faster, Alexander Griffiths

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) published A Study of Mechanical Application in Demining in June 2004. The study looked at the most suitable roles for machines in demining, examined the potential for machines to be considered a primary clearance tool, explained factors involved in protecting operators and presented a software model to help programme managers understand the cost-effectiveness of their mechanical assets. In 2005, the GICHD plans to release six more sub-studies related to mechanical demining. The following article explains some aspects of the operational tasks where machines are currently employed.

Operation Enduring Freedom: The Role Of Polish Engineers In Afghanistan, Boguslaw Bebenek, Hanna Madziar, Wojciech Chyla

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Polish Military Contingent, located at Bagram Base, 65 km from Kabul, has been contributing to peacekeeping missions withinOperation Enduring Freedom since March 2002. In addition to the platoon's main responsibilities of engineering reconnaissance and mine clearance, the platoon is also responsible for building fortification structures, developing base infrastructure, loading and transporting constructing materials, and conducting different kinds of ground works, mainly in the surrounding area of the base.

On The Ground In Iraq, Jo Foster

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

MineTech International (MTI) has been stationed in southern Iraq since May 2003, working on humanitarian mine and ammunition clearing projects and as part of its brief, working to deliver rapid response demining support for the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS).

Mine Injury Casualties Report From The Iraq-Kuwait Dmz, B.M. Schneider, V. Ehmann, M. Gebler, M. Pohlers, J. Bronnert, M. Schneider, V. Bartke, H. Woltering, B. Domres

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

After the implementation of the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) at the end of the first Gulf War in 1990, a medical team was set up in 1991 to support the UN troops in their difficult tasks in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), a remote desert area between Kuwait and Iraq. The medical team was designed to take care of the medical treatment for the UNIKOM members and the nomadic people living in the DMZ as pointed out in UN Secretary-General reports S/2001/287 and S/2001/913 on the official UN website.

The Sdok Kok Thom Integrated Demining Project, Paddy Blagden

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Sdok Kok Thom Project in Thailand was an ideal project in order for the Japan Alliance for Humanitarian Demining Support (JAHDS) to create a mine clearance capability. The project site was compact, easily accessible and the vegetation varied from sparse to very dense, which made it possible to create a progressive training scheme of increasing complexity. This allowed the mine clearers to progress in steps towards the most difficult and challenging stages. One of the main points of the project was to incorporate a high degree of integrated demining, i.e., demining using the three major tools in the mine …

Mine Spike: A Landmine Neutralisation Tool For Combat Scenarios, Brett Lowery

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Landmine clearance operations can be broadly categorised into two roles: military and humanitarian demining. Military operations often require a fast passage through minefields to maintain the tempo of advance. This is known as "breaching" and it involves either rapidly clearing mines from an intended route (for example by a mineplough) or marking the mines so they can be avoided. Other military scenarios may require the clearance of mines and UXO before setting up a military outpost. Once the main conflict and initial military clean-up has ended, humanitarian demining agencies move in to clear the area of mines and UXO, making …

International Conference Sheds Light On Mine Action Trends And Concerns, Jan Cornelis, Hichem Sahli

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

During the "International Conference on Requirements and Technologies for the Detection, Removal and Neutralization of Landmines and UXO" held in Brussels September 15–18, 2003, many global viewpoints and models emerged from the discussions. Some of the ideas triggered strong emotional reactions during the conference. Several of the new ideas might have a short lifetime; others have the potential of forcing breakthroughs; and all of them are subject to further debate.

Maic: Iraq Ordnance Identification Guide, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Iraq Ordnance Identification Guide on the James Madison University Mine Action Information Center (JMU MAIC) website provides information gathered from UXO research about how to "...facilitate international unexploded ordnance (UXO) awareness and identification." The Iraq Ordnance Identification Guide is sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense: Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC), funded by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), and prepared by Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division (NAVEODTECHDIV). The guide is provided by the JMU MAIC.

New Training Tools: Enhancing Mine Detection Performance, Daniel Hartmen, Dean Carhoun, Herman Herman

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The effectiveness and proficiency with which a handheld buried ordnance detection system operates is contingent on two properties: the detection capabilities of the sensor and the operator's skill in manipulating it while interpreting meaning from its audio output. With recent advancements in buried ordnance location technology, adding ground penetrating radar (GPR) with electro-magnetic induction (EMI) sensing places much greater importance on detector sweep motion as a prerequisite to improve detection and reduce false alarm performance. Proper operation requires the user to sweep an area completely without gaps, with the detector head motion controlled within proper speed and height above ground …

Ukraine Responds To New Mine Action Demands, Sergei Pashinsky

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Ukraine has been testing demining equipment as well as practicing new mine action methods in order to meet international guidelines. The following article from the director of the Ukrainian Mine Action Information Center (UMAIC), discusses the different types of demining equipment that Ukrainian deminers have tested and wish to use in the future.

Bridging The Gap Between Users And Developers, Jennette Townsend

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Has the communication between demining technology users and developers improved over the last 10 years? Most agree that while there have been improvements, the need for further improvement overshadows the positive developments.