Specialized in demining operations, the Digger foundation in Tavannes wants to help Ukraine by delivering one of its machines. This non-profit organization also hopes to be able to produce these remote-controlled vehicles on site under license.
“We want to deliver this demining machine to Ukraine within one to two months in cooperation with the country’s civil security”, explains to Keystone-ATS the director and founder of the Digger Foundation Frédéric Guerne. The machine was intended for France to clean up the soil, but Paris agreed to release it for Ukraine.
This 4th generation machine of the Digger-250 type is currently parked in the foundation’s workshops. Frédéric Guerne will leave next week for kyiv where he is to meet civil security officials from the Ministry of the Interior as well as the Swiss ambassador to Ukraine Claude Wild.
The company from the Bernese Jura also wishes to produce demining machinery under license in Ukraine by passing on its know-how to a trusted partner company.
“With this project, we hope to enable this country to maintain its independence from foreign creditors and support its economy,” explains Frédéric Guerne, who is also counting on support from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
Armored and remote-controlled machine
This model of tracked demining machines designed and built by the Digger foundation results from a cross between a tractor and an armored vehicle. Weighing twelve tons, the armored vehicle is equipped at the front with a demining cutter which clears the vegetation.
This system allows the soil to be plowed at high speed, destroying anti-personnel or anti-tank mines by crushing them or detonating them. The Digger-250s are remote controlled so their pilots can stay a safe distance away. These machines can treat depending on the case from 300 to 1800 m2 of land per hour when a manual deminer only treats on average 5 to 20 m2.
“Ukraine is the largest minefield on the planet and at least 60 demining machines would be needed,” said the director and founder of the Digger Foundation. “And that number will increase.” It was shortly following the start of the conflict that the company received the first requests from Ukraine.
” Swiss knife “
“Our machines have been dubbed the Swiss military army knife of demining,” says the founder and director of Digger. Technology is at the heart of this foundation which fights for the poorest.
The Tavannes company has built four generations of machines which are deployed in 16 countries, in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia. Its action is only possible thanks to the generosity of donors.
Since its creation in 1998, the company has continued to gain credibility and notoriety. A non-profit organization, Digger is now recognized as being of public utility. But it has been a long road to establishing itself and becoming a world reference in the field of demining technologies.
Volunteer team
The adventure began more than 20 years ago, following the signing of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines. Engineers and farmers from the Bernese Jura decide to combine their skills to carry out a somewhat utopian project: imagine and design a machine for mine clearance.
After years of effort, this young team wishing to put its skills at the service of its neighbor recorded a first success: it succeeded in manufacturing in a barn a prototype of an armored and remote-controlled clearing machine. Over the years, more efficient models will come out of the workshops.
/ATS
