Falkland Islands Cleared of Landmines
“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...tarian-success
So now they are complaining about their mines being removed !
https://en.mercopress.com/2020/11/12...tarian-success

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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?
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?
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?
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?
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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.
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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!
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!
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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!
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.
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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!
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!
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.
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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.
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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.