Falkland Islands Cleared of Landmines

[ORAC]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/falklands-cleared-of-landmines-almost-40-years-after-war-8w07z7kkk

Falklands cleared of landmines almost 40 years after war

Thd Falkland Islands have been cleared of landmines almost 40 years after the conflict between Britain and Argentina.

Tens of thousands of mines (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/bed2d90a-fe8b-11ea-8eac-e356e4cd0308) and bombs have been removed as part of a UK-funded programme since 2009, a task carried out by a team of specialist deminers, many of them from Zimbabwe.

Islanders will mark the moment with a ceremonial detonation of the final landmine at the weekend, along with games of cricket and football on reopened beaches.

Wendy Morton, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office minister, said: “This is a huge achievement for the islands and we must pay tribute to the brilliant team of deminers who put their lives at risk to make the Falklands safe.”

The removal of the mines laid during the conflict means the UK has met its obligations under the anti-personnel mine ban convention. Britain now believes there are no anti-personnel mines on any of its territories worldwide.

Jock Sutherland, 52, a fuel tanker driver from Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, is looking forward to visiting spots that have been no-go zones since he emigrated from Scotland in 1987.

He said: “When I came here, you’d hear a big bang and it’d be a cow or a sheep that had stood on something.”

[Fortissimo]

That is excellent news, just a shame it has taken so long.

During my first stint 'down South', the entire undershoot at Stanley was full of mines and UXOs. The informal brief was that in the event of an ejection into said area, you stayed exactly where you were and waited for the SAR Sea King to lift you straight out. I remember an RE Major losing a foot installing Portakabins on the south side of the airfield in a supposedly cleared (Green) area, a sad reminder of the need to be a bit careful. There was some idiocy too - a gory photo on display around the unit showing the hand injury to an SAC who had clapped the initiators from 2 anti-personnel mines together to prove they were inert. He was wrong. They also found an anti-tank mine in his locker in the Coastel. :eek: He was shipped home to get his hand fixed, and then came back to finish his tour via a rather expensive orderly room experience. And there was a Cpl who had a good kick in the pocket from the Stn Cdr after being caught throwing rocks at the visible mines on the beach, though he had at least decided to stay the right side of the barbed wire festooned with the traditional 'Danger, Mines' signs! I am not proud to say I once spent a couple of hours watching sheep grazing in a minefield (my nav was fishing the river nearby for our supper); 'no sheep were injured in the making of' etc., which was fortunate for all concerned.

Perhaps the luckiest person at the time was the G2 Major (infantry) who took CBF's son on a battlefield tour - Mt Longdon ISTR. He told me he had a moment of startling clarity which prompted him to tell the young man to stand very still and then got him to follow exactly in his footsteps as he extricated them from the unmarked minefield they had just walked into. His main concern was apparently what he would say to the General if...

[Asturias56]

Full marks to the Zimbabwean guys - very professional in a landscape that is a far cry from where they trained

[MPN11]

Well done, guys. There will be a lot of very grateful sheep strolling around now!

As noted by others, it was quite hairy in the early days at Stanley. Even the ATC Landrover stayed off the grass, just in case!


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1280x932/stanley_minefields_1983_a9dfe9711e582b693514e4048918fc28f49b 8341.jpg

[Consol]

Well done to all and let's hope the world keeps moving in that direction and ends the use of landmines

[Downwind.Maddl-Land]

Falklands cleared of landmines almost 40 years after war

Hmmm, if you believe that - I have a bridge I want to sell you! 'They' also said that about Yorke Bay beach ("K" on MPN11's Minefield Map) which was green on earlier issues and where many personnel - civilian and Service - exercised regularly! Right up until an urgent and extremely rapidly distributed out-of-sequence re-issue of the said map had it coloured RED. The 'urban myth' was that an RE jogging there had noticed a 'suspicious object' which on investigation proved to be a mine and which was precursor of finding many more! The story went on that an especially strong wind and tidal coincidence had temporarily lowered the sand level of the beach to a point where a significant minefield had now been re-exposed. Can't vouch for the veracity of that tale, but certainly the Minefield Map - normally routinely issued on a Thursday (?) - was urgently re-issued overnight with the beach as a 'no go area' area in the third or fourth quarter of '82!

Also had a similar incident to Fortissimo's when self and Smudger Smith went walkabout up Tumbledown and realised that we were most probably on the wrong side of a fence that delineated the edge of a minefield! Tiptoe through the tulips wasn't in it.....:ooh:

[BVRAAM]

A big well done and some very positive news in this year of doom and gloom.

I just hope they're right. Peat moves, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how this detail is significant...

Now... how does one go about acquiring one of those old signs?

[212man]

The removal of the mines laid during the conflict means the UK has met its obligations under the anti-personnel mine ban convention. Britain now believes there are no anti-personnel mines on any of its territories worldwide.

Our obligations? So a foreign country invades our territory, and fills it with mines, and then it's our obligation to clear up the mess afterwards?

[BVRAAM]

Our obligations? So a foreign country invades our territory, and fills it with mines, and then it's our obligation to clear up the mess afterwards?

Yes.

Besides, would you actually trust Argentina to do it properly and honestly?

I wouldn't.

[Wycombe]

I was on the islands back in 2000 and was told even then that the mines may never be cleared, so good to see that what was described then as an enormous task has been completed.

I remember particularly being taken to the beach north of Stanley Airport and being informed it was strictly out of bounds. I think that was the beach shown during the article on BBC Breakfast this morning?

[Count von Altibar]

This is an incredible story, I really thought they'd have been removed a long time ago I guess it's no easy task to perform all credit to those that did it.

[Ant T]

When I first came to the Falklands, flying S61 for Bristow on the military contract, one of the crews landed on the point at Goose Green one day. The crew noticed that the minefield signs seemed to have faded badly, with no red paint or writing, just a silvery colour . . .
They took off again (with fingers crossed I guess, as I think mines detonate when the load comes off them?), and re-landed, on the safe side of the fence !

(After the event, a minefield sign was hung in the Bristow bar, suitably annotated on the reverse “You have just landed in a minefield” )

[Ant T]

Our obligations? So a foreign country invades our territory, and fills it with mines, and then it's our obligation to clear up the mess afterwards?

The obligation is under the Ottawa Treaty, ratified in 1999 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Treaty

If you are interested in reading more about the operation to clear the mines, this article is very interesting, from 10 years ago when the clearance had not long started.

https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2010/10/falkland-islands-de-mining/

(The article also confirms the accounts I had often heard, that although the minefields close to Stanley were well documented, the ones at Goose Green and on West Falkland had no records kept by the Argentineans, which is required by international protocols)

[212man]

When I first came to the Falklands, flying S61 for Bristow on the military contract, one of the crews landed on the point at Goose Green one day. The crew noticed that the minefield signs seemed to have faded badly, with no red paint or writing, just a silvery colour . . .
They took off again (with fingers crossed I guess, as I think mines detonate when the load comes off them?), and re-landed, on the safe side of the fence !

(After the event, a minefield sign was hung in the Bristow bar, suitably annotated on the reverse “You have just landed in a minefield” )
Didn’t another crew get the cable carrying an empty fuel bladder wrapped around the tail boom, and then carry out a precautionary landing - to discover they were in a minefield!

[Ant T]

Didn’t another crew get the cable carrying an empty fuel bladder wrapped around the tail boom, and then carry out a precautionary landing - to discover they were in a minefield!

Yes and No, I think. The empty went over the tail boom (and under the main rotor), for sure, but as far as I know, my story above is the only one where they landed in a minefield, and that was a different occasion.

[Ant T]

Just been chatting to the loadmaster who was in the one that - just - touched down in the minefield at Goose Green. He said that he realised what was happening just as the tailwheel touched down lightly, and with a quick “up, up”, they were over the fence to land safely. He also told me that the minefield sign in the bar was a gift from the chinook crew who had been on the other side of the fence watching it all happen.

Also, confirmed that the fuel bladder over the tail incident did not involve a minefield, but the crew did consist of the Chief pilot, the Deputy chief pilot, and the senior loadmaster !

[oldpax]

Has the UK stopped making anti personel mines?Where did Argentina get theirs??

[Fortissimo]

Has the UK stopped making anti personel mines?Where did Argentina get theirs??

France, maybe?

[ORAC]

Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor (http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/argentina.html)Production, Transfer and UseArgentina is a former producer and exporter of antipersonnel mines.

Production took place at the General Directorate of Military Industries (Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares) of the Ministry of Defense. Argentina has stated it produced only one type of antipersonnel mine, the FMK-1 plastic blast mine, at the “Fray Luis Beltrán” factory between 1976 and 1990, manufacturing 18,970 FMK-1 mines during this period.[8] (http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/argentina.html#fn634) Equipment formerly used for production is now being used to make reinforced fuzes, detonators for grenades, estopines (initiators), and other items.[9] (http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/argentina.html#fn635) According to the US Department of Defense,

Argentina had manufactured two other types of antipersonnel mines: the MAPG pressure or tripwire-initiated mine and the MAPPG bounding mine.[10] (http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/argentina.html#fn636) The government never officially declared production of these mines which date from the 1940s/1950s, but an official said the mines could have been imported and re-catalogued to make their identification easier.[11] (http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/argentina.html#fn637)

Based on Article 7 reports and mines found in the Malvinas/Falklands, Argentina imported antipersonnel mines from Libya (MAP and TRA), Israel (Number 4), Italy (SB-33), and Spain (P4B). Argentina exported nearly 3,000 FMK-1 antipersonnel mines to Honduras. An export moratorium was instituted in March 1995, which has since been superceded by the Mine Ban Treaty.

There is little information available on Argentine exports of antipersonnel mines prior to the 1995 moratorium. Argentina sold weapons to Croatia, including 5,750 antipersonnel and antivehicle mines several months before the moratorium was instituted.[12] (http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/argentina.html#fn638) This sale caused a scandal, because the transfer was made during a UN arms embargo against Croatia.

Argentina last used landmines during the Malvinas/Falklands war in 1982, and it has stated that the islands are the only mine-affected part of Argentina. (See also United Kingdom entry in this Landmine Monitor Report.)

According to Argentina’s May 2001 Article 7 report, 20,000 EXPAL P-4-B, and FMK-1 antipersonnel mines were laid during the 1982 conflict.[13] (http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/argentina.html#fn639) In July 2002, it added SB-33 antipersonnel mines to the list of mines it used in the islands.[14] (http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/argentina.html#fn640)

[Ant T]

“The Argentine government has criticized the successful eleven-year demining process in the Falkland Islands arguing it is a new “violation” of a UN resolution calling on both sides, UK and Argentina, to abstain from any unilateral action in the disputed territories.”

So now they are complaining about their mines being removed !

https://en.mercopress.com/2020/11/12/argentina-criticizes-falklands-mines-free-achievement-but-is-willing-to-share-the-humanitarian-success

[OvertHawk]

“The Argentine government has criticized the successful eleven-year demining process in the Falkland Islands arguing it is a new “violation” of a UN resolution calling on both sides, UK and Argentina, to abstain from any unilateral action in the disputed territories.”

So now they are complaining about their mines being removed !

https://en.mercopress.com/2020/11/12/argentina-criticizes-falklands-mines-free-achievement-but-is-willing-to-share-the-humanitarian-success

Well they can immediately solve that dispute can't they - Cough up for half the cost and then it will no longer be unilateral will it! Simples! :E

[toolboxstickers]

According to this article from 2017,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39821956
there were fears that clearing the beaches would severely disrupt the penguins which had thrived there due to the lack of human disturbance, and destroy the dunes ecosystem. Any further news on this aspect?

[Ant T]

According to this article from 2017,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39821956
there were fears that clearing the beaches would severely disrupt the penguins which had thrived there due to the lack of human disturbance, and destroy the dunes ecosystem. Any further news on this aspect?

Penguins seem to co-exist OK in the many places where tourists visit in huge numbers each (normal, non covid) summer, and most people behave sensibly around the wildlife, but one positive bit of news specific to the beaches that have just been cleared of mines - legislation was passed a couple of days ago to ban all off-road driving on those beaches. About 85% of people locally were in support of the legislation.

[pedroalpha]

Second day of the peace in 1982, I was tasked into Goose Green. On departure, we experienced a gearbox chip warning so I rejected ahead in a field just beyond a fence. A voice on the fm advised that we had landed in a minefield. A quick crew vote decided we should leave immediately so I pulled pitch and away we went without incident. Might have been another story.

[Asturias56]

Here's a photo of the brave lads that did it............

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/300x168/download_4f6505e081212181cc77e32f8808c199581c0ab2.jpg

[DODGYOLDFART]

Here's a photo of the brave lads that did it............

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/300x168/download_4f6505e081212181cc77e32f8808c199581c0ab2.jpg
All we need now is a picture of the sheep who also contributed quite a bit!

[mole man]

I hope they had a good stay at Lookout Camp

[Asturias56]

I saw some of them changing out a year or so back - they looked bloody cold!

[Marcantilan]

Hi, just a quick question.

I have read somewhere that a number of landmines in the islands were installed during WW1 and WW2. It is that true? Of course, I am aware most (or all?) mines were from the 1982 war.

Regards to all!

[Training Risky]

Well done to all and let's hope the world keeps moving in that direction and ends the use of landmines
hmmm. It is only the presence of 2 million mines in the DMZ keeping NK out of SK. So mines do have a use in the modern world.

As for the FI. We should have kept them in place as a deterrent against a future Argentine invasion whose lack of record keeping may have made them think twice!

[superplum]

Genuine question.

How do they know it's really clear?
:confused:

[ninja-lewis]

Is there a pool on when the next sheep will be blown up?

[Geriaviator]

Yes indeed, all praise to the minelifters! Many years back, my roadman pal Sammy Deane was involved in the Stanley runway resurfacing contract and on his day off he went with a friend to see the penguins. They were warned not to disturb them and were quite happy to watch them from a distance. What he didn't expect was that the penguins were just as keen to see him. Sammy was well over 6ft and they came up almost to his shoulder, as we saw from a picture showing him surrounded by 30 friendly birds who seemed to think he was one of them.

[BVRAAM]

hmmm. It is only the presence of 2 million mines in the DMZ keeping NK out of SK. So mines do have a use in the modern world.

As for the FI. We should have kept them in place as a deterrent against a future Argentine invasion whose lack of record keeping may have made them think twice!

Record keeping wouldn't have made a tangible difference for many of the minefields.

Peat moves. A lot. There's no guarantee a mine placed would be in the same place in 6 months, never mind 40 years. This is exactly why they put them there.

[oldpax]

As an aside to the Falklands demining it is still going on around the El Alamein battlefield.

[DODGYOLDFART]

As an aside to the Falklands demining it is still going on around the El Alamein battlefield.

I had a good friend (now flying circuits in the clouds) who carried out a survey for HMG of part of the Alamein battlefield with a view to clearing it of mines. Apparently the Germans and Italians had tried to clear part of the battlefield but lost too many guys so gave up. My pals recommendation was leave it to decay for another fifty or so years before doing anything. Apparently the main problem was that each side had laid mines and in some cases there were mines laid on top of mines which in turn were sitting on other mines many of which were booby-trapped.

[Asturias56]

well they're still collecting bits from WW1 that go bang occasionally so it s a long wait

[Slow Biker]

Back in '90 the Royal Engineers modified an EOD Wheelbarrow to clear the FI minefields; the FI airforce EOD element was invited to a demonstration of the prototype; if memory serves it was called Redfire. The wheelbarrow was modified to carry a gas bottle with a hose leading to a burner nozzle attached to a multi-pronged fork on the extendable boom. A 'suitable' mine was selected and the 'barrow set off to scoop up the mine and burn it out. All well and good but someone had not done a very good recce. The Mk8 Wheelbarrow is quite a heavy machine, heavy enough to trigger an unseen mine which resulted in the 'barrow going airborne a good 20ft. To add insult to injury the boom was one of the new square types, a great improvement on the round one and hard to obtain. As a coincidence the sapper operating the machine had been my No2 on the IED course; he knew his stuff and got me out of trouble a few times.

[DeanoP]

May 1990. Near Bertha's beach. Mine clearing party on right. (but I believe Penguins were too light to set them off)


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1325/scan_f0aa6f63d526c9e6b3c6ab5ed9350b6e789500fb.jpeg