Last year, the Federal Army’s demining service (EMD) was deployed 995 times to recover, transport and destroy war relics in Austria. This involved a total of 34,687.30 kilograms of war material of various kinds; With this amount of explosives, up to 100 high-rise buildings with 20 floors could be blown up in a controlled manner. For example, the demining service specialists destroyed 65 cluster bombs, 31 anti-personnel mines and 44 unexploded bombs weighing more than 50 kilograms and rendered them harmless.
“The demining service of the Austrian Armed Forces contributes to security in Austria every day. The figures show that the end of discoveries of war relics is far from being in sight. I would like to thank the demining experts for their efforts,” said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner.
Challenging areas of application
The areas of application of the demining service are diverse: water, alpine terrain, forest and urban terrain are among these. The de-mining service’s diving group recovered 571.5 kilograms of war materials from the waters; 146 kilograms of ammunition and war material were recovered and destroyed in the high alpine terrain. To reach these areas, the demining service traveled 280,585 kilometers – the equivalent of approximately seven trips around the Earth.
Destruction and disposal of war material
The EMD destroyed 14.91 tons of recovered war material using explosions at the Federal Army’s blast sites. Around 4.8 tons of infantry ammunition were annealed in a special kiln and the resulting ammunition scrap was recycled. Around 6.57 tons of war scrap were taken directly for final disposal.
What was particularly challenging for the specialists was that they encountered ammunition that was unsafe to handle 47 times. This could not be transported and had to be destroyed by blowing it up on site, i.e. outside of the Federal Army’s blasting sites. 422.90 kilograms of war material were rendered harmless. All explosions took place without any damage to property or people.
The areas of application
The deployment density was highest in Lower Austria in 2024. There, 14.03 tons of war material were removed in 462 operations. Behind it is Styria with 9.39 tons in 129 missions, followed by Vienna with 5.81 tons in 56 missions. In Upper Austria, 2.23 tons were neutralized in 107 operations, in Carinthia, 1,553.37 kilograms were neutralized in 84 operations, and in Burgenland, 914.17 kilograms were neutralized in 81 operations. Tyrol with 621.20 kilograms in 43 missions, Salzburg with around 70 kilograms in 19 missions and Vorarlberg with 13 missions and 80.43 kilograms of recovered and destroyed war material bring up the rear.
What to do if you see a suspicious item?
Handling ammunition and explosives is extremely dangerous for unauthorized persons. If an object is found whose origin and nature appear suspicious, you should keep your distance, prevent people or animals from getting too close to the find and contact the nearest police station immediately. The employees of the Federal Army’s demining service are then called in to defuse the war relic and transport it safely away.
The demining service
The employees of the demining service are experts in all types of ammunition that date from before 1955 and are found on Austrian federal territory. The EMD was transferred as an independent department from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to the Federal Ministry of Defense on January 1, 2013. Due to the offices in Vienna, Graz and Linz-Hörsching as well as a 24-hour on-call service, the demining specialists can be on site within a very short time to examine suspicious objects and eliminate dangers from past wars.