Welcome to UXOInfo.com's free monthly E-Newsletter on Unexploded Ordnance (UXO). UXOInfo.com is the largest site on the Internet for UXO related news and information. If you have not checked out the UXOInfo.com website, we encourage you to do so at www.uxoinfo.com. In addition to bringing you the latest UXO news and information, the UXOInfo.com website also provides the following:

• UXO Resume Response Line
• Ordnance / UXO Photo Gallery
• UXO Document Library

• UXO Help Wanted
• Munitions Database
• UXO Question and Answer

The UXO E-Newsletter is issued monthly to provide the industry with important news and information related to UXO. For information on how to advertise in future UXO E-Newsletters please email the UXOInfo.com Marketing Coordinator, Ms. Jenna Coven at jenna@uxoinfo.com.

If you do not wish to receive the UXO E-Newsletter in the future, simply use the un-subscribe link provided at the bottom of this newsletter. If you have any questions or comments on UXOInfo.com or the UXO E-Newsletter please email them to rhonda@uxoinfo.com.

The UXO E-Newsletter and UXOInfo.com are the copyright of Ordnance Holdings, Inc. (OHI)

A New Decade - A New Agreement

As we usher in a new decade with hopes for renewed efforts to clear the globe of dangerous UXO, Department of the Navy leaders have taken a step in the right direction by signing an Agreement to establish a process for the Commander, Joint Region Marianas (CJRM) to have the authority to implement explosive safety principles on Guam. OHI has requested a copy of the Agreement from the Navy. If and when received, we will post it to UXOInfo.com website for the community.

This month we have a number of other articles of ongoing UXO finds around the world, including a large find in Germany and appropriately one in Guam, where a resident brought his find into the Mayor's office. Our monthly "This Old Ordnance" article features Japanese WWI era bomb fuze.

UXOInfo.com is brought to you by Ordnance Holdings, Inc. (OHI), a Hub Zone certified small business - please keep us in mind to support your next UXO project from consulting and UXO construction support to full-service UXO remediation and removals. For more information on OHI's capabilities and services, please visit our website at www.ordnanceholdings.com. Finally, when it comes to UXO, please remember the 3R's of Recognize, Retreat, Report.

Joint Region Marianas Reaches Agreement on Guam UXO

Article Source: http://Navy.mil

WASHINGTON (NNS)- Culminating over three years of negotiation, Department of the Navy leaders today signed an agreement to establish a disciplined process for the Commander, Joint Region Marianas (CJRM) to have the authority to implement prudent explosive safety principles on Guam. The agreement will have an immediate impact on billions of dollars in military construction activities being undertaken by all military services with missions on Guam, including the relocation of United States Marines from the Island of Okinawa, Japan.

The ceremony marks submission of the Guam Munitions Response Explosive Safety Submission to the Naval Ordnance Safety and Security Activity (NOSSA). To acknowledge this historic occasion, Mr. Dale Sisson, Executive Director of NOSSA, and Mr. Jim Balocki, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations, Energy and Facilities) signed a memorandum of agreement.

"This agreement is all about safely accelerating the delivery of warfighter capabilities by the Air Force, Navy, and Marines to a region of the world critical to our nation's strategic interests," said The Honorable Lucian Niemeyer, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment). "We no longer will have extended delays for essential military construction projects, and will be able to save U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars."

According to Niemeyer, the event marks the culmination of many years work by staff across the globe to address the unique challenges associated with constructing facilities on Guam, a former World War II battleground. The agreement is intended as a template to improve the communication and teamwork across the explosive safety functions in the Department of Defense to expand activities on other islands with similar histories during World War II.

"This is a significant day for many of us; this agreement will enable greater agility in the decision making process, save money, and most importantly, deliver infrastructure capabilities more quickly in the Pacific region. This agreement was made possible by the extraordinary leadership at NOSSA, the DoD Explosive Safety Board and dedicated work by many professionals on Guam, in Hawaii and here in the DC Region.," said James B. Balocki, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations, Energy and Facilities).

WWII Ordnance Found on Selsey Beach, UK

Chichester, United Kingdom Two UXO items were found washed up on Selsey Beach in Chichester, UK.

According to sources, the Coast Guard was called to the scene and the beach was cordoned off to protect the public. Pictures were taken and subsequently sent to a Royal Navy EOD Team for examination.

EOD confirmed that the items were unexploded bombs left over from WWII. EOD responded and conducted controlled detonations on the beach to dispose of the hazards.

This is not the first time UXO has been discovered on this area of Selsey Beach. During WWII, the area served as bombing range for air-to-ground munitions training.

Site of New Telsa Factory Found To Contain UXO

Berlin, Germany Electric car maker Telsa recently purchased a 740-acre site to build its first European factory, named Gigafactory, which would give its cars the "Made in Germany" branding.

Florida Beachgoer Detects WWII Landmine

Vero Beach, Florida When a recreational metal detector enthusiast's detector went off on Vero Beach, it prompted him to use his bare hands to dig up what turned out to be an old landmine. Realizing that it was likely ordnance, the man dropped his metal detector and ran back to warn others in the area to stay away.

The man called the county fire officials who responded and confirmed that the item was ordnance. An EOD team from Patrick AFB responded to remove the item as the area was cordoned off. Authorities suspect that the ordnance dates back to WWII when the area formerly served as the Fort Pierce Naval Amphibious Training Base. Numerous munitions have washed ashore around the same area over the years.

Magnet Fishing Results In Hand Grenade Find

Vass, North Carolina The Crains Creek Fire Department announced via social media that a few locals were magnet fishing near Morrison Bridge and Riverview Drive when they found a hand grenade, missing its firing pin, near the bridge.

Several emergency units responded, including military EOD, who determined that it was unsafe to transport the grenade.

"The military EOD responded and determined it not safe to carry back to post, so it was detonated in the woods nearby," the Crains Creek Fire Department stated in a news report of the incident.

Practical Military Ordnance Identification (2nd Edition)

Author Tom Gersbeck's book - 'Practical Military Ordnance Identification' (2nd edition) focuses on the application of a practical deductive process to identify unknown ordnance items commonly recovered outside military control. In the book, Tom describes a seven-step procedure to identify unknown munitions by their category, group, and type. Detailed logic trees help users narrow down the possibilities in order to accurately identify ordnance. The book also covers safety precautions, describes ordnance construction characteristics, and explains the fundamentals of military ordnance fuzing.

'Practical Military Ordnance Identification' is written for Public Safety Bomb Technicians, SWAT personnel, Explosives Detection Canine (EDC) handlers, emergency management personnel, beach and park patrol units, forensic laboratory staff, Evidence Response Teams (ERT), UXO technicians, Deminers, Coast Guard personnel, archaeologists, all military personnel and other first responders; as well as history enthusiasts, museum employees, and those studying these fields. The easy-to-follow, step-by-step means of applying a practical deductive process to identifying ordnance outlined in this book was written with these professionals in mind.

Order "Practical Military Ordnance Identification" (2nd edition) today from Amazon.com, BN.com, or other online book retailer.

For any queries please contact the author at Tom212021@outlook.com.

UXO-Related History Remembered

Japanese Type 97 M K2 Bomb Fuze - U.S. Designation A.3(a) - 1944

In this month's This Old Ordnance article, we feature a WWII era Japanese Bomb Fuze Type 97 MK 2 - U.S. Designation A.3(a). The fuze is an updated version of the Type 90 fuze. The mechanical impact fuze was used by the Japanese "Navy Airforce." The threaded brass fuze was screwed into the nose of a Japanese bomb.

When the bomb is released, the arming wire is pulled through the eyelet, breaking loose at the soldered points. This action impacts and initial rotation to the arming vane assembly. The fuze is armed in 7 rotations of the vanes. On impact, a shear wire breaks causing the firing pin to strike the primer detonating the bomb on impact.

The image and technical data for the fuze was pulled from an Australian Military Forces Bomb Disposal Technical Instruction from March 1944.

If you have any UXO history you would like to share including documents, images, and/or articles for posting, please send them to Rhonda at rhonda@uxoinfo.com.

UXO Support Services by Ordnance Holdings, Inc.(OHI)

Ordnance Holdings, Inc. (OHI) - developer and operator of UXOInfo.com, is a small certified HUB Zone business, specializing in providing UXO, MMRP, and explosives safety related services.

Services provided by OHI include:

• UXO Construction Support / Anomaly Avoidance
• Dredging Support
• UXO Technician Staffing
• GIS/Mapping Services
• Archival Research

For more information on OHI, please visit our recently updated - website or contact OHI's Client Relations Manager, Jenna Perman: (O) 443.522.2933 (C) 443.857.7474 (E) jenna@ordnanceholdings.com.

About FLIR's Unmanned Ground Systems

A unit of FLIR Systems, Inc., FLIR Unmanned Ground Systems is the world's leading provider of battle-tested Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). We partner with U.S. and international military, law enforcement and industrial users to design and build technologically advanced robots that support a wide range of missions. Whether it's a roadside bomb on the battlefield, a suspicious package on the subway, or a potential hazmat situation, our robots help keep troops, first responders, and the public safe.

FLIR has delivered more than 7,000 UGVs to customers in over 55 countries. Ranging in size from five to 500 pounds, our trusted robots have been used countless times in the field to provide a greater stand-off distance from danger. Using an array of sensors, they gather valuable intelligence so decision-makers can better understand the situation and respond to possible threats. Our family of UGVs are modular, adaptable, easy-to-use, and meet or exceed the needs of operators in any uniform.

MuniRem Environmental (MRE) is an industry leader in providing chemistry that near instantly neutralize and destroys explosives and other energetics to non-hazardous end products. MuniRem degrades energetics and chemical warfare materiel (CWM), while stabilizing heavy metals as the insoluble metal sulfides. MuniRem is recognized as a safer and faster solution for removing explosive risks from different materials.

MRE's award winning innovative green solutions are delivered to its private industry and government clients by highly qualified, dedicated and driven staff of engineers, scientists and UXO professionals. MuniRem has been applied at diverse Munitions and Explosives of concern (MEC) project sites in the United States and internationally.

MuniRem has been applied to:

• Instantly neutralize bulk explosives
• Destroy mustard and other chemical warfare materiel to non-hazardous products
• Decontaminate explosives contaminated buildings, pipes, equipment and range scrap
• Remove explosive risks ahead of UXO Tech response
• Neutralize recovered underwater munitions on-site
• Remediate explosives contaminated soil and groundwater
• Clean explosives manufacturing plants and indoor training ranges
• Destroy explosives in spent activated carbon
• Destroy chlorinated organics (e.g., HCB, PCBs, TCE, PCE, etc.)
• Remediation of metals (AL, As, Ba, Ca, Cr(IV), Hg, Pb, U, etc.) by stabilization as insoluble metal sulfides

For more information on Tripwire Operations Group please contact:
Ryan J. Morris, M.A.
Email: RJM@TRIPWIREOPS.ORG Website: http://www.tripwireops.org/
Tripwire Operations Group, LLC.- 1685 Baltimore Pike - Gettysburg, PA 17325
Office: 888-330-7015 Direct: 717-648-2792 Fax: 717-334-6391 Google Voice: 202-573-8105

For an overview on Tripwire please Click Here.

Like Us on Facebook.

For information on Corporate Sponsorships, please contact UXOInfo.com's Marketing Coordinator, Jenna Perman at jenna@uxoinfo.com or (443)857-7474.

Homeless Shelter Moved Due To UXO

Santa Rosa, California Government officials have decided against housing a homeless encampment on a parking lot near the Sonoma County Airport due to the potential for UXO as the parking lot is located within the former site of the WWII-era Santa Rosa Army Airfield.

In the early eighties, the area was a hotbed of development and in 1982, ampules from CAIS kits were discovered by construction crews during the digging of a sewer line. Further development in the area uncovered dozens more items.

Due to the concerns for more CAIS and the possibility for UXO in the area, city officials opted not to take the risk and decided to relocate the homeless encampment elsewhere.

Ordnance Fuze Found At Estate Sale

Sandy Springs, Georgia Police responded to an estate sale after receiving a call about a potential ordnance item being found.

The police responded and cleared the area before calling in the Cobb County Police Bomb Squad for technical assistance.

The bomb squad responded and removed the fuze from the area. It's not clear how the item ended up in an estate sale.

Dead Body and Suspect UXO Leads To Neighborhood Evacuation

Stockton, California Police responding to the home of man that reportedly died of natural causes called the bomb squad after finding "hundreds" of apparent military ordnance items in the house. The bomb squad contacted Travis AFB EOD for technical assistance as the nearby neighbors were evacuated from their homes.

EOD and bomb disposal crews worked over two days to sort and remove the items were found, for the most part, to be inert replicas. However, crews also found 25 small flares and fuses which were classified as "real" (type not reported) that had to be removed as well.

Police said investigators learned that the 70-year-old man appeared to be a collector of military items but he did not have a military background.