“The cost of each is 1 million euros. How the German GCS platforms are demining Ukraine and what is the “bad scenario” for them – an interview with the CEO of the company October 15, 08:20 NV Premium Share: One of the systems that the GCS company supplies to Ukraine (Photo: Press service of the company) Author: Svitlana Ugniva Filipp von Michaelis, CEO of the Swiss company Global Clearance Solutions, which has been demining Ukraine since almost the first months of the great war, about”, — write on: ua.news
One of the systems that the GCS company supplies to Ukraine (Photo: Press Service of the company)
Philipp von Michaelis, CEO of the Swiss company Global Clearance Solutions, which has been demining Ukraine almost since the first months of the great war, about the peculiarities of working here, the requirements of international donors and how Ukraine differs from Germany.
A third of Ukraine, or about 174,000 sq km, is potentially contaminated by landmines, unexploded ordnance and explosive devices, putting more than 6 million Ukrainians at risk. Such estimates are provided by the Swiss company Global Clearance Solutions (GCS), which specializes in the elimination of explosive threats in various regions of the world, has at least managed to work in more than 30 countries. Since 2022, the company has been operating in Ukraine, having invested more than 1 million euros in entering this market.
So now GCS has an office in Kyiv as well as a service center and a warehouse. “Using state-of-the-art robotic systems, sensor, jamming and drone solutions, we clear important industrial and civilian areas of mines and other explosive remnants of war,” is how the company describes its activities.
Philipp von Michaelis, CEO of the GCS company, came to Kyiv on business and immediately talked with NV.
What are your demining platforms?
At this stage, we are supplying the Ukrainian market with two platforms: GCS-100 with an approximate weight of 2 tons and a larger GCS-200 with an approximate weight of 10 tons. Both are remote controlled. They come with attachments that you can attach to the machine depending on the task at hand. That is, first of all, we look at what surrounds us, what types of explosive pollution there are in this or that area.
Depending on the size of the plot, we also choose a smaller or larger platform. If you need to survey many small areas, or which are difficult to reach, then you should choose a smaller, more mobile machine. But, for example, we cannot run over an anti-tank mine. So it is important to understand the methodology of using these machines. With the larger one – GCS-200 – we can already deal with larger territories and more significant dangers. This is basic information about our machines. We also use drones and special cameras to survey the area and thus help the machines to work more efficiently.
What are the risks facing the platform operator during operation, and what is the worst-case scenario?
The main rule for the operator is discipline. A bad scenario can be when the operator makes a mistake. We have procedures in place to reduce the risk of such operator error. We conduct inspections every 3-6 months. We have to make sure that the operator has the necessary equipment, communication, etc. The operator should not work for more than 2 hours in a row. Also, every 50 hours you should check the car – oil, for example.
After all, many of our operators have a military background, because this kind of work requires maximum effort, control, and discipline. But even in a bad scenario, we lose the car, but not the operator.
What types of explosive pollution most often have to deal with? Give an example of the power of one machine – what area can a larger machine, say, survey in a day?