JOURNAL: The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction
FEATURE
DRONES SUPPORTING MINE CLEARANCE IN NORTHERN SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka
by Oliver Gerard-Pearse [ The HALO Trust ]
T
he humanitarian mine action (HMA) community’s nascent adoption of commercial drone
INDIA
Bay of Bengal
technology has no doubt made a posi-
Jaffna
tive impact within the sector. However,
Jaffna
drones go underutilized in HMA and
Northern Province
Kilinochchi
many opportunities as well as potential
Mullaitivu
pitfalls remain. Nurturing and developing this tech-
Vavuniya
Mannar
nology to assist in an increasingly di-
North Central Province
verse and evolving industry will benefit
Trincomalee
the community greatly. However, drones
Anuradhapura
have only recently drawn the public eye
Anuradhapura
with considerable strides forward in de-
Eastern Province
veloping technology that is now available and financially accessible to the general public. Popular commercial brands are
Polonnaruwa
Puttalam
North Western Province
Batticaloa Kurunegala
appealing more to the budding photographers and video bloggers that are able
Central Province
to achieve a professional angle in photographs or videos. and associated challenges that drones
Colombo
Gampaha
support mine clearance in Sri Lanka to
Nuwara Eliya
Kalutara
Sabaragamuwa Province
Galle
field. It concludes with recommenda-
Uva Province
Badulla Monaragala
Western Province
clear the densely-laid Muhamalai mine-
Ratnapura
Hambantota Matara
Southern Province
tions for the implementation of drones in other HMA programs.
Kegalle
Ampara
Kandy
Colombo
present to the HMA sector before presenting a case study of drones used to
Kalmunai
Kandy
Negombo
This article reviews the opportunities
Matale
Figure 1. Map of Sri Lanka. Map courtesy of CISR.
Drones in Conventional Mine Clearance: Challenges and Opportunities
even the word drone may prompt skepticism, however, generally the use of small commercial drones is allowed.
With the rapid increase in drone popularity and general
Currently, there are no formally developed national or in-
use, many governments have struggled to produce formal
ternational standards for the use of drones in mine clear-
legislation regarding the parameters in which the machines
ance operations. However, a number of concepts have been
may be used, some presenting restrictions, limiting any prac-
developed to assist directly in detection and mapping tasks
tical use at all. In contrast, others have yet to acknowledge the
within some mine contaminated environments. This tech-
requirement for such regulations. In post-conflict countries,
nology, although not used widely in the sector, has the clear
Published by JMU Scholarly Commons, 2018
ISSUE 22.3 @ NOVEMBER 2018
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