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Demining
Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By contrast, the goal of ''humanitarian demining'' is to remove all of the landmines to a given depth and make the land safe for human use. Specially trained dogs are also used to narrow down the search and verify that an area is cleared. Mechanical devices such as flails and excavators are sometimes used to clear mines. A great variety of methods for detecting landmines have been studied. These include electromagnetic methods, one of which (ground penetrating radar) has been employed in tandem with metal detectors. Acoustic methods can sense the cavity created by mine casings. Sensors have been developed to detect vapor leaking from landmines. Animals such as rats and mongooses can safely move over a minefield and detect mines, and animals can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unexploded Ordnance
Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not explosion, explode when they were deployed and remain at risk for Detonation#Applications, detonation, sometimes many decades after they were used or discarded. When unwanted munitions are found, they are sometimes destroyed in Controlled explosion, controlled explosions, but accidental detonation of even very old explosives might also occur, sometimes with fatal consequences. For example, UXO from World War I continues to be a hazard, with poisonous gas filled munitions still a problem. UXO does not always originate from conflict; areas such as military training bases can also hold significant numbers, even after the area has been abandoned. Seventy-eight countries are contaminated by land mines, which kill or maim 15,000–20,000 people ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Mine
A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, which are designed to disable tanks or other vehicles; and anti-personnel mines, designed to injure or kill people. Land mines are typically pressure activated, exploding automatically when stepped on by a person or driven over by a vehicle, though alternative detonation mechanisms are sometimes used. A land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both. Land mines are typically laid throughout an area, creating a ''minefield'' which is dangerous to cross. The use of land mines is controversial because of their indiscriminate nature and their potential to remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming civilians and the economy. With pressure from a number of campaign gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mine Flail
A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a minefield by deliberately detonating land mines in front of the vehicle that carries it. They were first used by the British during World War II. The mine flail consists of a number of heavy chains ending in fist-sized steel balls (flails) that are attached to a horizontal, rapidly rotating rotor mounted on two arms in front of the vehicle. The rotor's rotation makes the flails spin wildly and violently pound the ground. The force of a flail strike above a buried mine mimics the weight of a person or vehicle and causes the mine to detonate, but in a safe manner that does little damage to the flails or the vehicle. World War II The idea is commonly attributed to a South African soldier, Captain Abraham du Toit. A test rig was constructed in South Africa and results were so encouraging that du Toit was promoted and sent to England to develop the idea. Before du Toit left for England, he described his idea to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations Mine Action Service
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is a service located within the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations that specializes in coordinating and implementing activities to limit the threat posed by mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices. The Service operates under United Nations legislative mandates of both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as by request of affected Member States, the United Nations Secretary-General or their designated official. In 2015, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon designated actor Daniel Craig as the first United Nations Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards. They last released theiannual reportin 2021, highlighting how UNMAS programmes made progress in the removal and destruction of tens of thousands of items of explosive ordnance, improved the safety of millions of people, strengthened the national capacity of multiple gove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sapper
A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses, and road and airfield construction and repair. Sappers are also trained and equipped to serve secondarily as provisional infantry. Sappers facilitate and support the movement, defense, and survival of superordinate and allied forces, and impede those of enemies. The term "sapper" is used in the British Army and Commonwealth nations, the U.S. military, and the militaries of other countries. Historical origin Sapper A sapper, in the sense first used by the French military, was one who dug trenches to allow besieging forces to advance towards the enemy defensive works and forts over ground that is under the defenders' musket or artillery fire. It comes from the French word ''sapeur'', itself being derived from the verb ''saper'' (t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bounding Mine
A bounding mine is an anti-personnel mine designed to be used in open areas. When it is tripped, a small propelling charge launches the body of the mine into the air, where the main charge detonates and sprays fragmentation at roughly waist height. The original World War II German S-mine has been widely influential. Other countries that have employed bounding mines in war include the United States, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and countries of former Yugoslavia. China and Italy have also produced them. Some American mines designed for this purpose used a standard 60 mm HE mortar round with an improvised time delay fuse which is activated by the propelling charge. Bounding mines are more expensive than typical anti-personnel blast mines, and they do not lend themselves to scatterable designs. Because they are designed to be buried, they are appropriate for command-detonated ambushes, but tripwire operation is common as well. By design, bounding mines contain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PROM-1 Bounding Landmine
The PROM-1 is a Yugoslavian manufactured bounding mine, bounding anti-personnel mine. It consists of a cylindrical body with a pronged fuze inserted into the top of the mine. It is broadly similar in operation to the German S-mine. The mine is triggered by the tilting of the prongs situated on top of the mine. This is caused by either direct pressure on the prongs or by tension on a tripwire attached to them. Tilting the prongs allows at least one of three striker retaining balls to escape. This releases the spring-loaded firing pin, striker, which is flipped downwards into the percussion cap and fires the three gram propellant charge. The explosion of the propellant charge forces the upper half of the mine body out of the ground and up into the air, shearing off several brass screws and leaving the base plug of the mine behind in the ground. The mine's body is tethered to its base by a short length of wire, which unwinds behind it as it rises. When the mine reaches a height of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history at the time. * January 4 – NASA's MER-A (Spirit (rover), Spirit) spacecraft lands on the surface of Mars. * January 6 – Construction on the tallest human-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa begins in Dubai UAE. * January 8 – The Queen Mary 2, RMS ''Queen Mary 2'', at the time the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by its namesake's granddaughter, Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II. * January 25 – NASA's MER-B (Opportunity (rover), Opportunity) spacecraft lands on the surface of Mars. * January 26 – The Mydoom, MyDoom virus is first identified. February * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tripwire
A tripwire is a passive triggering mechanism. Typically, a wire or cord is attached to a device for detecting or reacting to physical movement. Military applications Such tripwires may be attached to one or more minesespecially fragmentation or bounding minesin order to increase the area where triggering may occur. Trip wires are frequently used in booby trapswhere either a tug on the wire, or the release of tension on it, will trigger the explosives. Soldiers sometimes detect the presence of tripwires by spraying the area with Silly String. It will settle to the ground in areas where there are no wires; where wires are present, the "strings" will rest on the taut wires without triggering the explosive, due to the product's light weight. Its use in detecting tripwires was first discovered in 1993 by Sergeant First Class David B. Chandler, Chief Instructor of the United States Army's Sapper Leader Course. That year it was introduced to students attending the cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minimum Metal Mine
A minimum metal mine is a land mine that is designed to use the smallest amount of metal possible in its construction. Typically, the only metal components are located inside the fuze mechanism which triggers detonation. Both minimum metal anti-tank and anti-personnel mines exist. Some designs contain virtually no metal at all, e.g., less than a gram. Methods Low-metallic mines This is achieved by encasing the explosive charge in a plastic, wooden, or glass body, with metallic components limited to the few small parts in the fuze which can not easily be made from other materials, such as the spring, striker tip, and shear pin. Minimum metal mines are extremely difficult to detect using conventional metal mine detectors and usually require modern techniques, such as robotic ''Multi Period Sensing'' (MPS) equipment, to identify, but it is still extremely difficult to find non-metallic mines. These techniques are usually restricted to well-funded international mine clearing org ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crimes against humanity, Child labour, child labor, torture, human trafficking, and Women's rights, women's and LGBTQ rights. It pressures governments, policymakers, companies, and individual abusers to respect human rights, and frequently works on behalf of refugees, children, migrants, and political prisoners. The organization was founded in 1978 as Helsinki Watch, whose purpose was to monitor the Soviet Union's compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Its separate global divisions merged into Human Rights Watch in 1988. The group publishes annual reports on about 100 countries with the goal of providing an overview of the worldwide state of human rights. In 1997, HRW shared the Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), also known as PENT, pentyl, PENTA (''ПЕНТА'', primarily in Russian), TEN (tetraeritrit nitrate), corpent, or penthrite (or, rarely and primarily in German, as ''nitropenta''), is an explosive material. It is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol, and is structurally very similar to nitroglycerin. Penta-, Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton. PETN is a very powerful explosive material with a relative effectiveness factor of 1.66. When mixed with a plasticizer, PETN forms a plastic explosive. Along with RDX it is the main ingredient of Semtex. PETN is also used as a Vasodilation, vasodilator drug to treat certain heart conditions, such as for management of angina. History Pentaerythritol tetranitrate was first prepared and patented in 1894 by the explosives manufacturer of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. The production of PETN started in 1912, when the improved method of production was patented by the German governm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
