armasuisse launches idea competition for environmentally friendly and safe recovery methods of ammunition from Swiss waters
Bern, 07.08.2024 - The Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse is seeking new procedures for the environmentally friendly and safe recovery of ammunition from Swiss waters by means of an idea competition. The three best competition entries will be awarded prize money of altogether 50,000 Swiss Francs. It is not planned to implement the submitted entries immediately, but they could serve as the basis for further clarifications or for launching research projects.
Military ammunition was submerged in various Swiss lakes between 1918 and 1964. This involved problem ammunition, surplus or outdated service ammunition of the forces in perfect condition or even rejected batches from production. The bulk of the submerged ammunition lies in Lake Thun, Lake Brienz and Lake Lucerne at a water depth between 150 and 220 metres.
With the launching of an idea competition, armasuisse wants to increasingly involve academia and industry in the considerations on how environmentally friendly and safe recovery of deep lake ammunition could be carried out, should this ever become an issue. This could be the case if, against all expectations, the release of pollutants from submerged ammunition were to be established during ongoing lake water monitoring.
The sector Science and Technology of the Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse will conduct the idea competition in an open and anonymous procedure. The competition documents will be available from 7 August 2024 on the federal government's simap.ch tender platform under the number #520-01. Competition entries can be submitted up to 6 February 2025. The submitted work will be assessed by a panel of experts consisting of authorities, institutes and higher education institutions according to predefined criteria. The result of the judging will be announced in April 2025. The three best entries will receive prize money of altogether 50,000 Swiss Francs. It is not planned to implement the submitted entries immediately, but they could serve as the basis for further clarifications or for launching research projects.
Previous risks and challenges of ammunition recovery
An assessment of possible recovery techniques in 2005 showed that all proposed solutions for ammunition recovery available at the time would lead to massive sludge turbulence and high risks for the sensitive ecosystem of the lake. The submerged ammunition is covered by a fine sediment layer up to two metres thick. If the sediments are stirred up during recovery, this might lead to the loss of oxygen, which is only available in low quantities at this depth, and as a result to damage in the lake ecosystem.
In addition to the poor visibility and the risks of explosion, the water depth, the current and the dimensions (4 mm to 20 cm size, 0.4 g to 50 kg weight) as well as the condition of the submerged ammunition present a further challenge. Most of the ammunition components consist of iron and are magnetic, however certain detonators are made of non-magnetic copper, brass or aluminium. All these factors represent major challenges for environmentally friendly ammunition recovery.
Address for enquiries
Samanta Leiser
Communication armasuisse
+41 (0) 58 465 33 79
Publisher
Armasuisse
http://www.ar.admin.ch/
General Secretariat DDPS
https://www.vbs.admin.ch/
