Credit: Komatsu Ltd.

According to Landmine Monitor, a Geneva-based NGO dedicated to eradicating this scourge of war zones past and present, up to 9,000 people around the world are killed or maimed by left-over munitions every year. By some estimates, there are more than 100,000 such weapons still to be uncovered.

Japanese companies and scientists have proven to be global leaders in developing the technology required to render landmines and other unexploded ordnance safe. The Japanese government supports these initiatives and is committed to not only making former battlefields secure but also assisting displaced populations to resume their former lives.

Today, conflicts still rage in Ukraine, Myanmar and countless other regions around the world. As soon as it is safe for them to operate, Japanese experts will start the delicate task of removing these weapons at the same time as instructing local people in how to make their homelands secure. 

One of the world’s leading manufacturers of heavy construction equipment, Tokyo-based Komatsu Ltd has to date provided nine custom-built bulldozers and excavators to clear mines and cluster munitions from former war zones in Asia and Africa.  

In the aftermath of the signing in 1999 of the Ottawa Treaty, which bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, Komatsu started working with the Japan Mine Action Service NGO in Cambodia. Parallel projects have since commenced in Angola and Laos.

Nagira Atsushi, head of Komatsu’s Demining & Reconstruction Project Office, says that so far, a total of 5,500 hectares have been completely cleared and approximately over 10,000 mines and cluster bombs removed.

“Without our technology, it would be impossible to safely clear that amount of land,” Nagira said. “We have the knowledge to do this work and Komatsu sees this as an important contribution to global society.”

With its partners, Komatsu is also training local people in the use of the equipment.

“It’s scary when I hear the detector’s signal,” said Son Sokhingmarinat, an engineer with the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC). “I do not know if it is a mine or something else. Once all the landmines are gone, I hope our country can move forward.”

Removing the mines is not Komatsu’s only contribution to rebuilding these war-ravaged communities.

“With the land safe, we wanted to help the people to return to their villages,” Nagira said.

To facilitate that, Komatsu has constructed 110km of roads in Cambodia since 2008, along with 10 elementary schools and 49 ponds for agriculture. It has also transformed 207 hectares of uneven, poor-quality fields and rice paddies into flat agricultural land, doubling farmers’ yields. They also established a scholarship program to help children who grew up at Komatsu Elementary School, which was built on a minefield, go on to university.

“I cannot help but smile when I see people moving back onto land that has been cleared of landmines, and growing crops in the rice paddies and fields,” said Ouen Maroeun, who operates an armoured bulldozer for CMAC.

Sawada Hideyuki, a professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University, is taking a different approach to the problems posed by landmines.

Sawada, an expert in robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, has been working to teach AI systems to identify mines and other unexploded ordnance.

Sawada has combined a relatively simple drone with an infrared camera that can rapidly scan a large area of ground. The camera detects different heat signatures from man-made objects – such as landmines – even if they are buried. The camera also captures images of the mine, adding that knowledge to its own database and expanding its AI ability to detect more landmines.

As well as the different designs of mines, the system must also be able to operate in different environments, from sandy deserts to dense woodland, to be effective, he adds.

Once a landmine has been spotted, its precise location can be passed on to specialist demining engineers to make it safe.

“I am using technology to teach the system to be like a human and be able to identify a mine,” he said. With such advanced technology, the task is often challenging and time-consuming, but Sawada says it is important to get it right.

In tests to date, Sawada’s four-rotor drone is able to identify targets with an approximately 95% accuracy rate.  Now he is keen to put it to real-world use.

“As soon as the opportunity arises, I want to try this in an area that needs to be cleared of mines,” he said. “At the moment, I am trying to get as much data on conditions in Ukraine as possible and although we are not able to go there now, I hope that might change soon.”

“It is very important that we test the system in a real-world situation so we can obtain further information, get real results and increase our knowledge of the technology and the sort of environments that this system will have to operate in,” he said.

One of the key benefits of Sawada’s project is the relative simplicity of the equipment, meaning that operators can be trained in its use quickly. It is also inexpensive, which is a major consideration for nations with limited budgets.

Sawada is also optimistic that his technology can be put to other humanitarian uses, such as detecting people when they have been buried in avalanches or landslides.

For Sawada, it is critical that he helps to put an end to the misery caused by landmines.

“Around 40% of the victims of mines are children who are hurt running around in fields,” he said. “Solving this will mean a generation of children won’t have to worry about that.

“And when the war ends in Ukraine, there is going to be an urgent need for this sort of technology before they can rebuild their communities,” he added. 

In a slightly different approach to harnessing AI to solve the problem, electronics giant NEC Corp is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross, other NGOs and technology firms to utilize artificial intelligence to locate buried weapons.

Still in the development phase, the technology takes in numerous variables about a target area, including the location of roads and buildings, arable land, forests, roads and countless other variables. Using AI tools that had previously been developed to create optimized “smart cities,” the system is able to predict areas where mines are likely to have been placed.

By adding further data and refining the AI, the developers behind the technology say it is now able to predict the location of buried munitions with an accuracy rate of 90%. 

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Japan has provided a wide array of mine detection and clearing equipment as part of its JPY91 billion ($599 million) pledged in grant aid to assist in the nation’s reconstruction. At present, it is estimated that landmines have been laid in more than one quarter of Ukraine.

Addressing the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland in June, then-Prime Minister Kishida Fumio vowed, “Japan will step up its efforts in the areas of mine clearance to enable the Ukrainian people to feel reassured as they re-establish their daily lives.”

But Japan’s commitment goes further than that.

Japan has since 1998 advised the Cambodian government on mine clearance measures, developing some of the most knowledgeable anti-mine engineers in the world. Armed with those skills, Cambodian experts are now instructing their Ukrainian counterparts on methods to safely render large areas safe.

Japan’s support is being handed on, meaning that communities around the world will be able to return to their homes without fear.