Introduction

Mechanically assisted demining is used during land release operations in Lebanon. When appropriately integrated into the demining process, the use of mechanical assets can significantly reduce the time spent on tasks. To achieve this without a reduction in safety for the people of Lebanon and without damaging the environment unnecessarily, the use of mechanical assets during the Land Release process is strictly controlled.

Respecting the principle of continuous assessment embedded in any Quality Management system, the performance of machines in terms of reliable output is subject to continuous assessment and, when necessary,  improvements are made to ensure that the assets are always being used safely and appropriately.

In Lebanon, mechanically assisted demining is primarily used for the removal of vegetation and for the preparation of ground in order to accelerate manual or Mine Detection Dog (MDD) search and Clearance operations. Appropriate mechanical assets are used as tools to help rapidly determine the extent of a suspected hazardous area (SHA) during Technical Survey and to help in ‘area reduction’ after parts of a SHA have been cleared. Other kinds of mechanical asset are used to sift ground, excavate ground and to move obstructions during demining tasks.

Any mechanical asset that is used to process ground inside a hazardous area is followed by  appropriate search and clearance procedures to ensure that no EO hazards are left behind. Machines designed to detonate pressure activated mines rarely achieve this reliably outside test areas and are not even intended to detonate other munitions that may be present. So, whenever explosive hazards are anticipated, follow-up search shall always be necessary before land can be confidently declared searched to a minimum depth and ‘cleared’ of EO hazards within that depth, so released for the people to safely use.