We were honoured to host a working delegation from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine last week to our headquarters in Freienbach, Switzerland and to our production facility in Stockach, close to Lake Constance in Germany.
Welcoming SESU’s Colonel of the Civil Protecion Andriy Khyzhnyak, Head of SESU’s Main Department in Poltava and Colonel Serhiy Oliinyk, Head of the Department for the Organisation of Special Works on Demining with special responsibility for the Implementation of Innovative Technologies in SESU’s Department of Mine Action Measures, Lieutenant Colonel Mykola Podolyaka and Lieutenant Ruslan Grekov, GCS CEO and Co-founder Philipp von Michaelis reiterated our commitment to our partnership.
Current projects within our partnership include the Swiss confederation’s recent humanitarian demining package worth 4.7 million CHF announced last October at the Ukraine Mine Action Conference in Lausanne. The comprehensive package includes three GCS-200 demining platforms with attachments, as well as operator training and service and maintenance support for the three-year project span. The first SESU trainees graduated last month and are already working to demine Ukraine on the three machines delivered on schedule.
Visiting the production site, the delegation received a hands-on guided tour able to test our innovative, proven technology, which allows for remote-control operation and ensuring maximum operator safety.
Oliinyk praised the quality and reliability of GCS’s technology. “Every single GCS machine delivered to SESU is still in use”, he said, and discussed optimisation for repairs. Eleven machines have suffered damage and been repaired since their deployment, including one machine which encountered an Anti-Tank (AT) mine. Von Michaelis agreed that success is defined by having our machines working in the field, each capable of demining up to a football-field sized area every day.
Andriy Khyzhnyak, Head of the Main Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Poltava region, noted that thanks to the implementation of effective strategies for using GSC-200 robotic complexes, the pyrotechnic units of the State Emergency Service managed to increase the volume of territory clearance to 850 hectares per year.
GCS Ukraine General Manager Dmytro Salimonov understands the push for seamless technological integration:
“GCS has pioneered demining technology and for both SESU and GCS the priority is now combining our drone, camera and jamming technology for remote operators to command from a single vantage point. GCS propriety drone software for reconaissance as well as AI-driven automated clearance platform guidance have already been integrated with our established camera systems to support operator efficiency and safety. We will build up local capacity and are actively looking to localise our production to speed up delivery times so that machines and spare parts can reach the areas they are urgently needed.”