The experience gained in Syria and in its zone helps specialists to neutralize dangerous finds
The Russian sappers involved in humanitarian demining in Laos have unique experience, especially taking into account their work in Syria and in the zone of a special military operation, experts interviewed by Izvestia said. In November, military engineers will go to this country on their seventh mission. Earlier, experts cleared 190 hectares of the territory of Laos and destroyed more than 3.5 thousand explosive objects left over from the Vietnam War.
What is the unique experience of Russian mine clearance specialists?
Laos appreciates the unique experience of Russian sappers, and therefore they regularly participate in humanitarian demining in this country, military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia. In November, they will begin their seventh mission there.
— It is experienced specialists who are invited. Although there are enough sappers in the world in many countries, in NATO countries, but apparently Laos likes how our specialists work," he explained. — In addition, we are moving forward in the field of engineering technology, using various methods, robotic complexes. And Laos is full of unexploded ordnance. There is a lot of valuable land that is not cultivated due to the fact that it is full of the legacy of the wars that were fought in this territory. Laos itself does not have such technologies and cannot replenish them quickly. They learn from our specialists, but our engineering troops are best engaged in mine clearance.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
Earlier, the head of the D.M. Karbyshev Military Engineering Academy, Major General Andrey Kruglov, said that Russian sappers would begin another humanitarian demining mission in Laos in November. She will be the seventh in a row. In addition, the Russian military will train Lao specialists.
According to Kruglov, during the previous six missions, specialists of the International Mine Action Center (MPC) discovered and destroyed more than 3.5 thousand explosive objects in an area of over 190 hectares. In addition, 136 sappers have been trained on the basis of the MPC branch deployed in Laos for six years, which today successfully carry out the tasks of demining the country's territory.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
Military personnel work in a hot tropical climate, where poisonous snakes and insects live. When clearing mines, they find a lot of metal debris, which the devices react to, which makes it difficult to work. In addition, as reported by the Ministry of Defense, explosive objects lie at great depths — up to 170 cm — and this greatly slows down the pace of the search.
Izvestia's help
The International Mine Action Center was established on August 1, 2014. This is a specialized unit of engineering troops designed to ensure Russia's participation in international programs, projects and operations for humanitarian demining inside and outside the country, to train specialists in accordance with the international mine action standards of the United Nations IMAS. According to the military department, the MPC detachment in Syria cleared more than 6 thousand hectares of territory, more than 105 thousand explosive objects were found and destroyed. During a special military operation, the center's specialists cleared 42,900 hectares of explosive objects in the liberated territories, including clearing more than 400 km of roads, and checking 6,473 buildings.
According to Alexey Leonkov, Russian military engineers have proven their skills by doing mine clearance in Syria. There, in particular, they cleared the territory of Palmyra liberated from terrorists. They gained particularly valuable experience in the zone of a special military operation, where they encountered new foreign-made ammunition.
— There is a unique experience in the special military operation zone in general: specialists worked on the part of the enemy, mined energy facilities in such a way that it is impossible to mine them just like that," the expert added. — But these puzzles, which were left by specialists from NATO, our sappers deciphered and kept the objects safe and sound. They also cleared the settlements and agricultural fields — there is a large amount of work there. And the sapper's experience grows from case to case. We know they make mistakes once, but ours don't make mistakes. In Laos, they will look for the same explosive objects, but in different climatic conditions. Which is also an invaluable experience.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
Military expert Vasily Dandykin believes that the Russian International Mine Action Center is the best in the world both in terms of skills of specialists and equipment.
— Both personal security and the availability of robotic systems are at the highest level. The Uran-6 robotic systems are used, service dogs are involved," he explained. — Lao friends appreciate the work of Russian sappers. And now our guys have even more experience, because the enemy is using various mines, traps, and ammunition in a sophisticated way. And in many ways, thanks to our sappers, such areas have already been cleared, which, according to standards, would have to be dealt with many times longer. Even take Mariupol, which was filled with explosive devices, and is now almost cleared of mines. Now every liberated city is a huge layer of work. Nevertheless, Russian military engineers have enough strength to work in different directions, including in Laos.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
During the humanitarian operations in Laos, Russian sappers operated in the provinces of Bolikkhamsai, Sianghuang, Khammuan and Vientiane. They cleared rural roads, infrastructure facilities and administrative buildings, finding about 1.2 thousand unexploded objects, including American cluster submunitions, artillery and mortar shells.
Russian sappers carry out mine clearance in protective suits from the combined arms mine clearance kits OVR-2-02 and use the most modern means of searching and detecting explosive objects, the Ministry of Defense reported. Among them are portable magnetometric bomb detectors MBI—P2, small-sized induction mine detectors IMP-3 and subsurface detectors PPO-2I.
Humanitarian demining in the liberated territories
Russian sappers are now gaining unique experience in the liberated regions, where vast territories are mined and littered with explosive objects. Earlier, Izvestia wrote that in the Luhansk People's Republic, a Russian private engineering company completed the clearance of the first facility. Its specialists cleared a clearing along the power line in three months, defusing dozens of explosive objects.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
On an area of about 20 hectares, humanitarian sappers defused about 100 explosive objects: 18 TM-62 anti-tank mines, grenades of several models, including F-1, 82-millimeter and 50-millimeter mortar mines, 45-millimeter and 30-millimeter shells, RPG shots and grenade launchers.
During the work, many technical innovations were tested. The sappers used two robotic complexes with trawls. In addition, at the beginning of processing any square of the terrain, a UAV rose into the sky, which made up a photographic map. Also, a drone with magnetometers mounted on it determined the points where metal objects could be located.
Roman Kretsul
Bogdan Stepovoy
