Deminers race to keep up with military technology

In the Ukraine conflict, landmine technology is setting a precedent for a new era of development. 3D printers are used to produce basic models of landmines close to the battlefield, which can then be easily assembled, filled with explosives and dropped by drones. 

In fact, the majority of mines deployed in Ukraine today are being laid remotely, either by artillery, rockets, helicopters, or drones.

“We’re also seeing much more high-tech mines being deployed,” making landmine detection a “much more complicated and dangerous task”, said Paul Heslop, Head of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Ukraine.

These “high-tech” landmines are equipped with sensors that can detect a deminer approaching, whether on foot or in a vehicle, and then detonate. Some even have magnetic influence capabilities, meaning they can go explode when exposed to the magnetic field of a detector. 

“The piece of technology you’re using to find the mine may actually activate the mine,” Mr. Heslop said.

As the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is marked on 4 April, the UN mine specialist said that the biggest challenge is how to win the arms race of clearing faster than the technology to stop them being cleared is being developed. 

Drone use a tool, not a solution 

Deminers are focusing on prevention and finding new solutions to help protect the lives of civilians and reduce the damage landmine contamination inflicts on their communities. 

One way mine action groups are innovating is by exploiting weaknesses in the way landmines are deployed. 

With an increasing number of mines deployed remotely, many do not penetrate the surface. This makes detection with drones and advanced sensor technology easier than if they had been buried by hand under the surface.

From there, remotely controlled technologies, such as drones or robots, are able to emit a small charge or a flare to neutralise the threat.

Nonetheless, against the backdrop of growing conflicts worldwide, these advances have not kept pace with the number of mines being planted worldwide. 

“Since 2015 there is more contamination being created each day than is being cleared,” Mr. Heslop. 

UNMAS estimated last year that over 20 per cent of Ukraine’s land, 139,000 square kilometres which includes over six million people, was contaminated by mines or unexploded ordnance costing the economy over $11 billion a year. 

Whilst landmines pose a threat to life, many mines, such as anti-personnel landmines are primarily designed to maim. Ukraine alone has over 60,000 war amputees. 

It is also the ‘perceived contamination’ of landmines that makes them such a pernicious military tool: a fear of hidden weapons renders land unusable and inaccessible, having a broad impact on millions of civilians.  

What is the priority? 

Prioritisation is key as humanitarian mine clearers attempt to maximise how they restore some ease to people’s lives in areas which may require decades of attention to return to normal. 

Traditionally, landmine action was measured by output: how many mines have been cleared, or square metres cleared, or even how many metal fragments were removed. 

“I think the other thing you’ve got to remember in mine clearance, or in humanitarian mine clearance, the goal is not necessarily to clear the mines; the goal is to show that the land can be used for more productive purposes,” Mr. Heslop said. 

Humanitarian deminers approach this problem in two ways: proving that mines are not there and that the land can be used; and secondly, proving that there is a high probability of mines, so that they can start clearing. 

Yet there is often uncertainty over the presence of landmines. Particularly in ‘high metal areas’ such as in battle zones where artillery fire has already spread thousands of pieces of metal fragments, and sensors find it challenging to distinguish between landmines and shrapnel. 

This uncertainty in detection makes “mine action an inherently inefficient process”, Mr. Heslop said. 

To meet this need, new technologies have been developed which don’t look for metal in the mine, but can detect the explosives or even identify the plastic casing around the explosive. 

Sometimes, the old ways are the best

To get ahead, Mr. Heslop warns deminers “not to be too dogmatic about our approach,” adding that one of the biggest hurdles to jump to get ahead lies in “mindset”.

New technologies can be paired with old, previously thought to be inefficient techniques and technologies, to help improve efficiency in demining and detection.

One approach is using AI, high-resolution cameras and drones alongside mine rollers to help give confidence to sceptical civilians who use the land such as farmers. 

AI and sensors could be used to determine if a field is free of mines, rollers could then go through the field to help convince farmers it is safe to go in on a tractor. 

“It’s a combination of going back to old ideas and seeing if we can use them, looking at new ideas and new technologies” he said.

© Kseniia Nevenchenko / UNDP in Ukraine

Artificial Intelligence, a booster 

If there is a high likelihood of mines in an area, pairing AI with advanced scanning technology can also help shrink mine detection predictions, working an area the size of a football pitch down to an area as small as the goalkeeper’s six-yard box. 

It’s this efficiency that makes AI particularly able to cut costs in mine action but also quicken the return to productive land purposes. 

Similarly, AI can also be used to help data-driven decision making, by processing volumes of data to make decisions about which areas should be prioritised for maximum benefit in a mere matter of seconds. 

It’s a job that would normally require hours of manual work from an experienced mine action leader. 

Communication technology aiding prevention 

Whilst technology owes some responsibility for an increase in the danger landmines pose, innovation also makes communicating landmine awareness a lot more effective. 

“Today, if you see something dangerous, you can take a picture, you can send it, and somebody will look at it and go, ‘Yeah, that’s a hazardous item, we’ll dispatch a team,’ or ‘No, that’s a car spare part… it’s an oil filter or an air filter,’” Mr. Heslop said.

In one example, Mr. Heslop said that a programme in Afghanistan that had aimed to reach over 200,000 was able to reach more than five million people owing to some of the technologies civilians had at their disposal.

“I think the improved communications from new technology and the ability to respond is much better than it was 30 years ago.”