Unexploded Ordnance (Hansard, 28 November 2002)

§ Mr. Caton
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of magnetic profiling in searching for unexploded ordnance at military training areas; [83704]
(2) whether his Department uses (a) Global Positioning System and (b) magnetometry scanning methods in surveying unexploded ordnance at military training grounds; [83707]
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(3) what geophysical instrumentation the British army uses in clean-up operations at military training grounds. [83708]

§ Mr. Ingram
The Ministry of Defence has had, for a number of years, a magnetic profiling capability which is widely recognised as an effective method of establishing the degree of contamination within an area of land. The British Army does not currently employ geophysical instrumentation in ordnance clearance operations at military training grounds as it is not considered to provide the degree of accuracy required for the location of smaller types of ordnance. The Ministry of Defence currently possesses both Global Positioning System and magnetometry scanning capabilities. It is planned that more advanced equipment will be introduced in the next training year which will provide improved information on the presence of UXO within a given area.

§ Mr. Caton
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department has the capability to carry out airborne surveys of military training sites to detect(a) exploded and (b) unexploded ordnance. [83356]

§ Mr. Ingram
Although we do not possess equipment designed specifically to detect unexploded ordnance from the air, the Ministry of Defence has used high-resolution photographic reconnaissance imagery to assist in explosive ordnance disposal work.

§ Mr. Caton
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many hectares per day the British army clears of unexploded ordnance when they carry out clearing operations in Archers Post, Kenya. [83705]

§ Mr. Ingram
Every British army unit conducting live firing activities on Archers Post conducts, on their completion, a clearance operation designed to ensure that all unexploded ordnance has, as far as possible, been marked and destroyed. In addition, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron of the Royal Engineers undertakes Exercise Pineapple annually in Kenya. The historical average, over the four-week period of the exercise, is that an area of up to three square kilometres is cleared, though this is subject to variation.