How drone technology can help clear deadly minefields
One of the most deadly problems Ukraine faces in its counteroffensive against Russian forces, as in many other war zones, are landmines. According to the country’s authorities, Russia has turned the country into the largest minefield in the world, covering more than 250,000 square kilometers (40% of its territory).
Estimates put the number of landmines worldwide at more than 100 million landmines from conflicts over the past five decades in more than sixty countries and territories. Landmines are deadly and can cause very serious injuries, and also block access to transportation, water, energy, food production or education, and affect the physical, sociological and psychological well-being of up to 60 million people.
Demining is a dangerous, difficult and expensive activity, but very necessary, without which it is impossible for countries that have been in conflict to return to any kind of normality. Some UN estimates put the cost of a mine at between $3 and $75, but the cost of clearing one at between $300 and $1,000.
Demining is generally classified into two categories: military demining, which aims to obtain routes to enable troops to advance and which does not remove mines but simply those located along certain areas; and humanitarian demining, which seeks to eliminate as many mines as possible in…
