Editing Land mine (section)

==Demining==
{{Main|Demining}}
[[File:Mines-raffi-kojian-IMG 1384.JPG|thumb|School posters in [[Nagorno Karabakh|Karabakh]] educating children on mines and [[Unexploded ordnance|UXO]]]]
[[Image:British engineers demining.jpg|thumb|right|British [[Royal Engineers]] practice mine clearance.]]

Metal detectors were first used for demining, after their invention by the Polish officer [[Józef Kosacki]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Croll |first1=Mike |title=The history of landmines |date=1998 |publisher=Leo Cooper |isbn=9780850526288}}</ref> His invention, known as the [[Polish mine detector]], was used by the Allies alongside [[mine flail|mechanical methods]], to clear the German mine fields during the [[Second Battle of El Alamein]] when 500 units were shipped to [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Field Marshal Montgomery]]'s Eighth Army.<ref>Tadeusz Modelski ''The Polish Contribution to The Ultimate Allied Victory in The Second World War'', Worthing, England 1986, Page 221</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Modelski |first1=Tadeusz |title=The Polish contribution to the ultimate Allied victory in the Second World War |date=1986 |publisher=T. Modelski |isbn=9780951117101|page=221}}</ref>

The Nazis used captured civilians who were chased across minefields to detonate the explosives. According to Laurence Rees "[[Curt von Gottberg]], the SS-Obergruppenführer who, during 1943, conducted another huge anti-partisan action called [[Operation Cottbus|Operation Kottbus]] on the eastern border of [[Belarus]], reported that 'approximately two to three thousand local people were blown up in the clearing of the minefields'."<ref>Laurence Rees (1999). ''[[War of the Century]]: when Hitler fought Stalin''. [[BBC Books]]. p.118. {{ISBN|0-563-38477-8}}</ref>

Whereas the placing and arming of mines is relatively inexpensive and simple, the process of detecting and removing them is typically expensive, slow, and dangerous. This is especially true of irregular warfare where mines were used on an ad hoc basis in unmarked and undocumented areas. Anti-personnel mines are most difficult to find, due to their small size and many being made almost entirely of [[minimum metal mine|non-metallic materials]] specifically to evade [[metal detector]]s.

Manual clearing remains the most effective technique for clearing mine fields, although hybrid techniques involving the use of animals and robots are being developed. Many animals are desirable due to having a strong sense of smell capable of detecting a land mine.<ref>[http://www.apopo.org/detection_rats.php APOPO Landmine Removal Rats] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131075506/http://www.apopo.org/detection_rats.php |date=January 31, 2010 }}</ref> Animals such as rats and dogs can be trained to detect the explosive agent.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mott |first=Maryann |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0210_040210_minerats.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202033509/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0210_040210_minerats.html|archive-date=2 February 2018|title=Bees, Giant African Rats Used to Sniff Landmines |publisher=National Geographic News |date=February 10, 2004 }}</ref>

Other techniques involve the use of [[geolocation]] technologies. {{As of|2008}} a joint team of researchers at the University of New South Wales and Ohio State University was working to develop a system based on multi-sensor integration.<ref>{{cite web |last=Grad |first=Paul |title=Detecting Land Mines: New Technology |url=http://www.asmmag.com/features/new-technology-for-detecting-land-mines |date=14 February 2009 |publisher=Asian Surveying and Mapping |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213173621/http://asmmag.com/features/new-technology-for-detecting-land-mines |archive-date=February 13, 2009 }}</ref> Furthermore, defence firms have been increasingly competing on the creation of unmanned demining systems. In addition to conventional remote control mine defusing robots that operate either through precise mechanical dismantling, electronic destabilization and kinetic triggering methods, fully autonomous methods are in development. Notably, these autonomous methods utilize unmanned ground systems, or more recently subterranean systems such as the EMC Operations Termite, using either outward pressure differentials along system bodies, or corkscrew mechanisms.

The laying of land mines has inadvertently led to a positive development in the [[Falkland Islands]]. Minefields laid near the sea during the [[Falklands War]] have become favorite places for penguins, which do not weigh enough to detonate the mines. Therefore, they can breed safely, free of human intrusion. These odd sanctuaries have proven so popular and lucrative for [[ecotourism]] that efforts existed to prevent removal of the mines,<ref>{{cite news |last=Milliken |first=Mary |title=Penguins Find Peace in Falklands War Minefields |url=https://www.enn.com/articles/2716-penguins-find-peace-in-falklands-war-minefields |date=September 28, 2005 |agency=Reuters |work=Environmental News Network}}</ref> but the area has since been demined.<ref>{{cite news |last=Teller |first=Matthew |title=The Falklands penguins that would not explode |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39821956 |date=May 7, 2017 |work=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |title=Falkland islanders celebrate being landmine free - after nearly 40 years |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-54894171 |date=November 14, 2020 |work=BBC}}</ref>