White painted tank Berner Stiftung delivers two new deminers to Ukraine

The Digger Foundation, which is active in mine clearance, will soon be sending two more machines to Ukraine. The organization, based in Tavannes BE, is also planning to finance a fourth machine.

When Digger was founded in 1998, founder and director Frédéric Guerne never thought he would be faced with such a demand. Before the war in Ukraine, around ten demining machines were sent around the world every year, he explains.

The Digger Foundation itself exported no more than one a year. "When the war started, the Ukrainians quickly announced that they would need first 100, then 200 of them," he says in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Digger wanted to respond quickly to this enormous demand. Last autumn, the first mine-clearing tank financed by the Department of Defense DDPS was transported to Ukraine. "The work is progressing steadily and we had to train a second team on site," says Guerne.

First deployment in a war zone

Despite many years of experience, the company from the Bernese Jura had never before sent a demining machine to a country that is officially at war. "The situation in Ukraine is quite complicated," says the Managing Director. "The Russians have left behind anti-tank mines. There is therefore a risk that the plane will move to places where it shouldn't."

There is also a risk that the tank will be targeted. The machine is painted white to distinguish it from military aircraft, and it is not allowed to operate closer than 30 kilometers from the front line. "But 30 kilometers is not much with modern weapons. The risk exists and we deal with it," notes Guerne.

Transportation in November

Those responsible at the Digger Foundation, the only company in Switzerland to build mine-clearing machines, are not discouraged by this. Two new machines are in the pipeline.

The first is being financed by Swiss Solidarity and will be on its way at the beginning of November. For the second, which is being financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Frédéric Guerne expects the contract to be confirmed by the end of September. It is scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2025.

In addition to the machine, the delivery includes a truck, a mobile workshop and wear parts for three years. If transportation and on-site training are included, the costs for each machine amount to over one million Swiss francs.

Seizing the opportunity

"In view of the demand from Ukraine, we had to increase our production capacity," says Guerne. The non-profit organization Digger currently employs 24 people, which corresponds to a dozen full-time equivalents. "We seized the opportunity. Some competitors that are bigger than us didn't make it, but we are there," says the managing director.

Since the beginning of the war, the company has never put a franc aside and has always taken risks. "But this strategy ensures that we achieve results."

Involving schools

Guerne is not short of ideas for the future. For example, he would like to work with schools so that they can finance the next demining machine for Ukraine through various campaigns.

"In 2009, Austrian pupils carried out a project with the Red Cross to buy us a machine and donate it to Bosnia. We are currently in the process of setting up a similar project, hand in hand with the Bernese Education Directorate."

Several schools in the region have already been approached, particularly in the Bernese Jura and Biel. "It's open to the whole of Switzerland. Incidentally, the idea is spreading faster than expected." Guerne hopes to launch the project on December 1 for a period of six months.

SDA