How UAV Lidar Improves Landmine Clearance Planning

British mine-clearance charity The HALO Trust partnered with Routescene to undertake a UAV Lidar project in Cuito Cuanavale, in the Angolan province of Cuando Cubango. This case study demonstrates the benefits of UAV Lidar to detect and map minefield features as the basis for informing clearance planning. The results can make clearance efforts safer and can expedite clearance through a targeted approach.

Land mines indiscriminately maim and kill countless animals and as many as 5,000 people annually, rendering habitats inaccessible and unusable, and destroying lives and livelihoods. At least 60 states and territories around the world are contaminated by landmines, whether due to the legacy of the past or as the consequence of recent or ongoing conflicts, such as in Ukraine and other areas. Clearance is a painstakingly slow and expensive process and there is a clear need to accelerate landmine clearance across the world.