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The Claymore mine is a directional anti-personnel mine developed for the United States Armed Forces. Its inventor, Norman MacLeod, named the mine after a large medieval Scottish sword. Unlike a conventional land mine, the Claymore may be command-detonated, and is directional, shooting a wide pattern of metal balls into a kill zone. The Claymore can also be activated by a booby-trap tripwire firing system for use in area denial operations.
The MON-50 is a Soviet rectangular, slightly concave, plastic bodied, directional type of anti-personnel mine designed to wound or kill by explosive fragmentation. It first entered service in 1965 and is a copy of the American M18 Claymore with a few differences. Its name is derived from Russian мина осколочная направленного, "directional fragmentation mine".
The MON-90 is a Claymore-shaped, plastic bodied, directional type of anti-personnel mine designed in the Soviet Union. It is designed to wound or kill by fragmentation. The mine is similar in appearance to the MON-50, but is approximately twice the size with a much greater depth.
The M16 mine is a United States-made bounding anti-personnel mine. It was based on captured plans of the World War II era German S-mine and has similar performance. The mine consists of a cast iron body in a thin steel sleeve. A central fuze well on the top of the mine is normally fitted with a pronged M605 pressure/tension (tripwire) fuze. Sufficient pressure on the prongs or tension on an attached tripwire causes the release of a striker. The freed striker is forced into a percussion cap which ignites a short pyrotechnic delay. The purpose of this delay is to allow the victim to move off the top of the mine, to prevent its upward movement from being blocked. Once the delay has burned through, a 4.5-gram black powder charge is ignited, which launches the inner iron body of the mine up into the air. The charge also ignites a second pair of pyrotechnic delays.
An anti-personnel mine or anti-personnel landmine (APL) is a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to an anti-tank mine, which target vehicles. APLs are classified into: blast mines and fragmentation mines; the latter may or may not be a bounding mine.
The POMZ, POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M are three types of Soviet-made stake mounted anti-personnel fragmentation mine. The POMZ mine was used during the Second World War. It was superseded by the POMZ-2, and later by the improved POMZ-2M. These mines have been used in numerous conflicts, including the Vietnam War and the Korean War.
The PROM-1 is a Yugoslavian manufactured bounding anti-personnel mine. It consists of a cylindrical body with a pronged fuze inserted into the top of the mine. It is broadly similar in operation to the German S-mine.
The PMN series of blast anti-personnel mines were designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union. They are one of the most widely used and commonly found devices during demining operations. They are sometimes nicknamed "black widow" because of their dark casings.
The Valmara 59 is a large cylindrical Italian bounding anti-personnel mine. It is the first in the "Valmara" family of mines produced by Valsella Meccanotecnica, and was followed by the Valmara 69 and VS-JAP. The mine's body is plastic with a distinctive five-pronged metal head. The central prong has a hole, to allow the threading a trip wire. The inner body of the mine has a main charge surrounded with approximately 1,000 steel cubes, below which is a steel wire connecting it to the base of the mine. When the mine is triggered a small charge launches the mine into the air approximately 45 cm before the steel wire is pulled taut, the jolt of which pulls a striker into the detonator. A secondary time fuse triggers the mine after three seconds if it has not detonated after being triggered.
The VS-JAP is an Italian bounding anti-personnel mine. It is the latest of the Valmara family of bounding mines that includes the Valmara 59 and Valmara 69. The mine has a waterproof plastic faceted cylindrical body with a three-pronged cap, with a central fixing point for a tripwire. The fuze is triggered via downward or sideways pressure.
The MBV-78-A2 is a small cylindrical Vietnamese anti-personnel fragmentation stake mine. It is unrelated to the MBV-78-A1. The mine has a large plastic head which contains the main charge wrapped around the detonator. A fragmentation layer of steel pieces set into wax surrounds the main charge. The plastic head has two mounting lugs for stake mounting the mine. A Vietnamese copy of the Russian MUV fuze is typically used with the mine, although other fuzes could be used.
The P-25 is a plastic cased Italian anti-personnel stake mine. It was developed along with the larger P-40 mine in the late 1970s by Misar SpA and entered production in 1978. The mine consists of a plastic cylinder with a fuse protruding from the top. The mine can either be stake mounted or buried, although it was designed to be stake mounted. Pull pressure on the tripwire results in the fuse head tilting sideways, releasing a striker into the detonator assembly.
The MC-71 is a Romanian tilt-rod fuzed anti-tank landmine. The mine's body consists of two truncated cones, the lower of the cones contains the main charge and fuzing mechanism. The main charge is a large shaped charge, which triggers 200 ms to 400 ms after the tilt rod is activated. The tilt rod can be deployed away from the mine, potentially making it effective against clearance vehicles using mine rollers and mine flails.
The MIACAH F1 (Mine antichar à action horizontale F1, L14A1 in British service) is a French off-route anti-tank mine. It uses a large Misznay–Schardin effect warhead to project a powerful self forging fragment capable of penetrating 70 millimetres of armour at a maximal range of 80 metres.
The Model 123 is a small Thai Claymore style directional anti-personnel mine. The mine has a square plastic main body with a convex front face marked with a triangle which is supported by two sets of scissor legs. Inside the main body is a layer of four hundred 5.5 millimeter steel ball bearings embedded in an RDX type explosive. The mine is normally used with an electrical detonator which is inserted into the top of the mine.
The Mini MS-803 is a small South African produced Claymore type landmine. The design is very simple, with a convex brown polystyrene case containing a PE9 plastic explosive charge with three hundred 6 x 8 millimeter cylindrical steel fragments embedded into it. The mine is supported by two pairs of wire legs, which can be used to stack the mines. On the top of the mine is a small hole for inserting a detonator, which is surrounded with a PETN booster charge. The mine is normally used with an S4 electrical detonator connected to an M57 electrical firing device which is also used with the similar but larger Shrapnel mine Mk 2. The mine could also be used with MUV type pull detonators and tripwires, but after the Ottawa mine ban treaty South Africa has said that it will not use this mine with victim activated fuses.
The VAR/40, VAR/100 and VAR/100/SP are Italian anti-personnel blast landmines produced by the Tecnovar italiana S.p.A. company.
The M432 is a Portuguese bounding anti-personnel mine, which traces the roots of its design to the Second World War German S-mine, although it is probably more directly related to the Belgian NR 442 mine and United States M16 mine. As of 2004, all operational stocks of the mine have been destroyed, although some may have been retained for training purposes.
The Cardoen EC-2 mine is a Chilean directional fragmentation anti-personnel mine. It is broadly similar to the United States M18 Claymore mine.
BPM-1 is a plastic cased Argentinian anti-personnel stake mine. It was developed late 1970s and entered production in 1978. BPM-1 was used in the Falklands War 1982.
References
- Jane's Mines and Mine Clearance 2005-2006
- Brassey's Essential Guide To Anti-Personnel Landmines, Eddie Banks
- HAMDY mine at ORDATA