Land Mines

The widespread proliferation and use of landmines on today’s battlefield can be contributed to a combination of a number of factors, which include the following: the ability to easily mass produce items, the development of plastic devices, improved battlefield delivery systems, and ongoing research with regards to sophisticated fuzes. The advances in mass production techniques and the associated reduction in per-item cost along with the simplicity of manufacturing/automated production make landmines extremely easy and relatively inexpensive to produce. Technological improvements have also affected landmines in the form of the widespread use of plastic in the construction of the devices.

This development has rendered metal detectors mostly ineffective for locating newer plastic-cased mines (unless the manufacture intentionally places a mass of metal in the mine). Remotely delivered mines have expanded the capability for quickly changing the tempo of battle with relation to counter mobility tactical actions and reinforcing defensive positions.

The use of land mines remains a contentious issue in international relations, with ongoing debates about their military utility, ethical implications, and the long-term impacts on affected communities. Anti-personnel mines are controversial and have been the subject of international efforts to ban their use, primarily because of their indiscriminate nature and long-lasting impact on civilians. Once deployed, these mines can remain active for decades, posing a threat to anyone who comes into contact with them, including civilians and children.

The Ottawa Treaty, or the Mine Ban Treaty, is an international agreement that aims to ban the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel mines. The treaty was adopted in 1997, and as of 2021, more than 160 countries have joined the treaty. However, some major powers, including the United States, Russia, and China, have not signed or ratified the treaty. The Ottawa Treaty, which aims to ban the use of anti-personnel mines, does not include anti-tank mines. However, the use of these mines is still subject to international humanitarian law, which requires that they be used in a way that minimizes harm to civilians and non-combatants.

Demining efforts are ongoing in many countries to remove and destroy land mines and reduce the risk to civilians. These operations can be dangerous and time-consuming, but are necessary to prevent further casualties and facilitate the safe return of land to productive use. Humanitarian organizations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), are heavily involved in these efforts, working with local communities and governments to clear mines and provide assistance to victims of land mines.

Types of Minefields

The following are basic types of OPFOR minefields: antitank (AT), antipersonnel (AP), mixed, decoy, and antilanding. AT minefields are the primary types of OPFOR engineer obstacle and serve to destroy or disable armored vehicles. They are primarily established in belts consisting of multiple rows on avenues that are favorable for tanks in front of the forward edge and on the flanks. Where difficult terrain is available, minefield belts will be tied into terrain obstacles to reduce the mine requirement. The OPFOR sets up conventional AP minefields on the forward edge of friendly defensive positions, in front of AT minefields, or along dismounted avenues of approach. Mixed minefields consist of both AP and AT mines. Decoy minefields are a significant form of deception to slow movement or deceive as to true unit locations. Antilanding minefields prevent landings by amphibious, airborne, or heliborne assault forces.

Minefields can also be categorized by their technical method of activation—uncontrolled, controlled, and intelligent. Controlled minefields consist of landmines with electronic switches that allow the operator (controller) control over the operational status of the minefield. The operator can change the status of the landmines either by a direct hardwire link or by radio. An entire minefield can be emplaced and turned on or off, as necessary to best support OPFOR operations. On a smaller scale, select passages in a conventional minefield can contain controllable landmines, allowing for the option of clearing safe lanes. The addition of selectable, anti-removal, and self-destruct features to controlled mines enhance flexibility and overall effectiveness.

Intelligent minefields have advanced technology that allows minefields to switch on and off and to deactivate at a certain time. When used in conjunction with unmanned ground sensors (UGS) they can communicate via and communications link and be activated remotely. Other advancements include acoustic and infrared signature activated mines. While many of these concepts are in the developmental stage, the technological means are available and have the potential to deploy as needs arise. They will be composed of “wide area coverage” mines.

Types of Mines

Mines may be AT/anti-vehicle, AP, antihelicopter, or area mines. They may also be defined by the manner in which they are emplaced such as scatterable (remote), or side-attack (generally AT or anti-vehicle) or their area coverage. As noted earlier for minefields, the OPFOR makes distinctions between controlled mines (command-operated by hard wire or radio linkage) and uncontrolled mines.

Side-attack mines are autonomous weapons that attack targets from the side as they pass by. These include anti- vehicle, anti- personnel, and anti-helicopter mines. They vary among manufactured side-attack mines, side-attack improvised explosive devices, and mines created by attaching manufactured or improvised sensor units to anti- tank grenade launchers (ATGLs) and anti-tank disposable launchers (ATDLs). Some side-attack mines can be used

for multiple roles. For instance, directional fragmentation mines and IEDs can be used against personnel and vehicles. Some like the MON-100 can tilt upward for anti-helicopter use.

Current developments in side-attack landmines use mature technology from other weapon programs. Since side- attack landmines have increased areas of coverage, the number required to hinder mobility of enemy forces is greatly reduced. Uses for these landmines include harassment throughout the area of operation and reinforcement of conventional minefields to make "cleared" lanes unsafe. Special Purpose Forces (SPF) and security patrols can also use these mines to economically cover multiple avenues of approach to alert on enemy encroachments. These types of mines can be used in ambush’s kill zones.

Antitank

Conventional antitank mines, such as the TM-62 AT mine, are those that are emplaced either by hand or by mechanical means. These will continue to be the primary landmine threat throughout the foreseeable future. They are readily available to armies and insurgency groups worldwide and are inexpensive and effective. These mines are normally buried just below the surface of the ground but can be surface laid or buried with up to 30 cm of cover. Antitank mines can vary in size from as small as 1.4 kg for a scatterable mine (PTM-1S) to over 20 kg for a side attack mine (TM-83). The category of antitank mines includes side-attack and anti- vehicle mines.

Side-attack antitank

Commonly called “off-route mines”, side-attack mines are an integral part of the adaptive battlefield and date back to the LGM trip-wire AT mines of the Vietnam War era. Today there are at least 18 different side-attack mines in use by 22 countries. Ten more side-attack mines are under development. Within the next few years these weapons will have proliferated to every combat environment. Some mines have been out fitted with acoustic and infrared signature detonation capabilities. The Polish Agawa comes in two variants, the legacy contact-fuzed MPB-ZK and the new non-contact, acoustic-activated MPB-ZN. Some mines and IEDs have warheads which produce an explosively formed penetrator (EFP), a metal sabot which penetrates light to heavy armor, depending on design. EFPs were used in the Iraqi theater against US and coalition forces. The majority of usage of such systems were by Shia Militias. Such mines include the Russian TM-83, and TEMP-30 sensor-fuzed mine. Sensor fuzed ATGL or ATDL based mines can also be effective. A shoulder-fired AT weapon placed on a tripod and fitted with an IR sensor can kill moving targets up to 100 meters away. Current warhead technology in these weapons allows penetration of up to 950 mm of rolled homogeneous armor.

Anti-vehicle

Many smaller antitank mines, or larger antipersonnel mines, have been developed (or modified) to severely damage or destroy vehicles other than tanks with a few pounds of high explosives or fragmentation. These may be either trucks, tactical utility vehicles such as UAZ-469, or light armored combat vehicles such as BTRs.

Side-attack sensor-fuzed mines such as Russian platter mines direct fragmentation to damage or destroy vehicles. Other mines and IEDs (e.g., PD Mi-Pk) initiate multiple EFPs for KE penetration. Blast effects from mines and IEDs can inflict kinetic energy damage by flipping over vehicles, bending metal, and tossing material about inside to kill or injure personnel.

Antipersonnel

Antipersonnel landmines injure by either blast or fragmentation. The small antipersonnel mine contains no more than a pound (usually only a few ounces) of high explosive. Blast injures by the force of the charge. The loss of a foot or a leg is the common result. Fragmentation mines contain hundreds to thousands of pellets. Plastic-cased landmines pepper their victims with small particles of plastic that are not detectable with x-

rays, making complete cleansing of wounds extremely difficult and increasing the risk of infection and amputation. On the battlefield, the modern AP mine is used to—

• Inflict personnel casualties. <
• Hinder soldiers in clearing AT minefields.
• Establish defensive positions.
• Deny access to terrain.

Anti-helicopter

The modern attack helicopter, with increasing agility and weapons payload, is able to bring enormous firepower to bear on enemy forces. To counter this threat, a new type of mine—the antihelicopter mine—was developed. By borrowing technologies from the side- attack and wide-area landmines, antihelicopter mines may make use of acoustic fuzing to locate and target potential low-flying targets at significant distances. Their multiple-fragment warheads are more than capable of destroying light-skinned, non-armored targets at closer ranges.

A simple antihelicopter mine can be assembled from an acoustic sensor, a triggering IR sensor, and a large directional fragmentation mine. More advanced mines use a fairly sophisticated data processing system to track the helicopter, aim the ground launch platform, and guide/fire the kill mechanism toward the target. As the helicopter nears the mines, the acoustic sensor activates or cues an IR or MMW sensor. This second sensor initiates the mine when the helicopter enters the lethal zone of the mine. A typical large fragmentation warhead is sufficient to damage soft targets, such as aircraft. Alternate warhead designs include high-explosive warheads and single or multiple explosively formed penetrators.

Area Coverage

The terms “area” and “wide area” mines are often confusing and misleading. Mines classified as area mines range from antipersonnel “bouncing Betty” mines to side-attack mines, directional fragmentation mines “claymores”, and possibly antihelicopter mines. Wide area coverage mines with sophisticated fuzing and possibly a limited communications capability are weapons of the future and have not been fielded. The Polish Agawa MPB-ZN is a wide area coverage AT mine with an acoustic activated target detection range of around 150m and its EFP is described as effective against 100 mm of rolled homogenous steel armor at distances of 50 m.

Emplacement or Delivery Methods

In the past, landmines were generally emplaced manually one at a time. Mass mine delivery and distribution systems permit the rapid placement of large quantities of mines. Landmine emplacement vehicles are designed to automatically arm and bury a landmine every 3-10 meters. Landmines also may be placed with artillery, rockets, or aircraft at a rate of hundreds, even thousands, of mines per minutes. Emplacement means may be manual, mechanical, or remote. Manual emplacement is not possible when there is little time or during high-speed maneuver operations. Therefore, mechanical and remote means are more prevalent.

Manual

Troops may manually emplaces minefields when

• There is no contact with the enemy.
• Mechanical minelayers are unavailable.
• It is inadvisable to use mechanical minelayers because of terrain restrictions.

Mechanical

Engineers rely extensively on mechanized minelayers. These can bury or surface-lay AT mines. The layout of mechanically emplaced minefields is the same as those emplaced by hand. Mines can also be emplaced by helicopters or vehicles with the use of chutes (slides). Mine chutes can also be used to assist manual burial emplacement or to surface-lay mines.

Scatterable Mines

Known as “scatterable mines” in the US, other countries call them “remotely-delivered”. They are landmines emplaced through a variety of means and are designed as such to be delivered by aircraft, tube artillery, multiple rocket launchers, missiles, ground vehicles, or they can be hand-thrown. Scatterable mines are not a standard item except in well-equipped armies of the world. While the number of countries possessing scatterable mines continues to increase, there will continue to be many areas of the world where scatterable mines are not a threat through the far term.

Minefield emplacement is progressing from manually and mechanically emplaced minefields to the more flexible and dynamic remotely, scatterable minefield. The ability to remotely deliver mines allows a rapid response with thousands of landmines at any point on the battlefield. Since many scatterable landmines feature self-destruct and anti-disturbance fuzing, they are well suited for operations that deny terrain for a specific period. After the allotted time has expired, the terrain can once again be used by friendly forces. Scatterable mines may be delivered by the following methods:

Artillery

Multiple rocket launchers are the primary means of remote minelaying. The principal advantage of MRL mine delivery is its ability to quickly emplace large minefields in a single volley, while minimizing exposure to enemy targeting and weapon systems. Both AP and AT mines can be delivered by artillery (which may include cannon and mortar rounds).

Ground Vehicles

Within recent years the trend has been to mount scatterable-mine dispensers on ground vehicles. Both AP and AT mines can be launched from ground vehicles. This also gives the engineers the ability to re-seed or reinforce an obstacle without entering the minefield itself.

Infantry

Lower level OPFOR infantry units may employ man-portable remote mine dispensers. These man- portable dispensers, weighing only a few pounds, are ideal for installing small, defensive, AP or AT minefields. Infantry-fired ground dispensers allow low-level units to remotely emplace minefields to protect their fighting positions, flanks, and boundaries between units, or to cover firing lines and gaps in combat formations. They can quickly close breaches in existing protective minefields and increase the density of mines on armor avenues of approach.

Aerial

Both AT and AP minefields can be laid using aerial minelaying systems. Bombers and fighter-bombers can lay remotely delivered minefields in the operational depths. Ground-attack aircraft lay these minefields in the enemy’s tactical depths. Helicopter minelaying systems are used to emplace small mine belts or large barrier minefields in the execution of army or division offensive or defensive maneuver plans. This type of aerial minelaying is normally conducted over friendly territory along flanks or in rear areas.