33 Ukrainian mine action operators obtain certification

Ukraine's Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, announced that 33 demining operators have already been certified, and the number of mine action developments is increasing. 

According to her, "over 50 more are in line," Rubryka reports.

"The more operators we have, the greater the competition in the market will be. This will lower the cost of demining and, hopefully, improve its quality," Svyrydenko said.

She noted that this was also important for launching the humanitarian demining market.

"Tenders for demining [agricultural land] will be announced through Prozorro, [a public electronic procurement system]. The farmer will contribute 20% of the cost, and the rest of the 80% will be covered by the state," Svyrydenko said. "The winner will be the operator who offers the lowest price while meeting the requirements. This program will start in April. Currently, we are finalizing the methods to determine the cost of humanitarian demining work."

She also announced new mine action developments. The agricultural navigation company Efarm Pro and the farming machinery enterprise  "Kobzarenko Plant" participated in the innovation boot camp and presented the "People's Deminer" system.

It has already undergone successful initial tests at a military training ground, and now the machine is undergoing certification. The system works automatically on large areas with an accuracy of up to 2 cm along the specified route. 

The prototype was developed based on the Ukrainian T-156 tractor. However, it has been completely modernized. The machine can be operated remotely. The economy minister added that this is another step toward "our people's and our lands' safety."

In 2023, the demining units of the State Emergency Service, the State Special Transport Service, and non-governmental operators surveyed 275,000 hectares of agricultural land. Over 200,000 hectares have been returned to economic use.

The Ukrainian government supported the experimental project the Ministry of Economy proposed for the mandatory certification of demining machinery and related components and equipment.

Background

In August 2023, the first machine that prepares soil for demining was certified in Ukraine. This enabled the country to establish its production and use it for demining territories. The equipment is capable of effectively neutralizing anti-personnel mines and detecting anti-tank mines.

In October of the same year, Ukraine announced it was testing an autonomous ST demining drone, which could significantly speed up and make the demining process safer. On average, it works four times faster than a person.

On February 22 of this year, the third model of a domestic demining machine, which is not inferior to the best Western analogs, was presented in Ukraine.

Engineers from the company "PAEK" in the Mykolaiv region have designed and started operating a remotely controlled tractor that demines agricultural lands without endangering people.