During humanitarian demining activities in Azerbaijan, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used for more precise surveying and research of the area.
“Elchi” reports that this was stated by Vugar Suleymanov, Chairman of the Board of the Mine Action Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA), during a panel discussion on “Benefits and Challenges of Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems” held within the framework of “Baku Climate Action Week 2026” (BCAW 2026).
He noted that during demining operations, equipment such as detectors and magnetic locators that identify mines and explosive devices, deep search devices, DGPS for obtaining precise geographical coordinates in the field, special-purpose mechanical demining vehicles for research and clearance operations, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles for more precise surveying and research of the area are used: “The goal is both to ensure maximum safety and to make the work process more efficient. Ensuring safety, identifying risks in advance, and informing people about dangers in a timely manner is a common approach that unites various fields.”
The ANAMA Chairman spoke about the obstacles climate change poses to finding mines: “Today, the nature of threats in the world is changing and taking on more complex forms. As a result of climate change, the intensity of floods, landslides, droughts, forest fires, and other natural disasters is increasing. At the same time, the threat of mines and other explosive ordnance remaining after conflicts creates serious obstacles to public safety, infrastructure projects, agriculture, urban planning processes, and the return of people to their native lands.”
He recalled that Azerbaijan is among the most mine-contaminated countries in the world: “During the occupation of our territories, the Karabakh and East Zangezur economic regions, which are rich in clean ecosystems and possess some of the purest and most beautiful nature in our country, were contaminated with more than 1 million mines according to initial assessments. This means 480 tons of plastic mass contaminated with harmful substances by minimum calculation. However, the scale of the mine threat is not measured only by the number of mines and explosive devices.”