L10 Ranger Anti-Personnel mine

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L10 Ranger anti-personnel mine
L10 Ranger Anti-Personnel Mine & Arming Key.JPG
L10 Ranger anti-personnel mine & arming key
Type Anti-personnel mine
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
Used byUnited Kingdom
Specifications
Mass136 grams (4.8 oz)
Height30 millimetres (1.2 in)
Diameter60 millimetres (2.4 in)
Filling phlegmatized RDX
Filling weight109 grams (3.8 oz)

The L10 Ranger Anti-Personnel Mine was a United Kingdom anti-personnel blast mine. It was used from the 1970s until recently.

Anti-personnel mine form of land mine designed for use against humans

Anti-personnel mines are a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines, the latter may or may not be a bouncing mine.

It was designed to be used in conjunction with the L9 Bar Mine anti-tank mine, to make anti-tank minefields more difficult for enemy sappers to clear by hand. A FV432 would be fitted with a plough through which bar mines would be laid. A firing frame which held 18 clips of 4 barrels each would be fitted to the top of the vehicle. Each barrel contained 18 Ranger mines, for a total of 1,296 mines. The frame could fire in any direction (although mines were not usually fired over the front of the vehicle). As each section of the anti-tank minefield was completed, several of the barrels would be fired. A small propelling charge would launch the mines, scattering them 50 to 250 metres (160 to 820 ft) behind or to the side of the mine-laying vehicle. The act of launching the mine from the tube would release a spring-loaded safety catch and start a timer which would arm the mine after 30 seconds.

The L9 Bar Mine is a large rectangular British anti-tank landmine. The bar mine's principal advantage is its long length, and therefore its trigger length. A typical anti-tank landmine is circular, and a vehicle's wheels or tracks, which make up only a small proportion of its total width, must actually press on the mine to activate it. To increase the probability of a vehicle striking the mine, the mine's effective trigger width must be increased.

Sapper Soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties

A sapper, also called pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses, as well as working on road and airfield construction and repair. They are also trained to serve as infantry personnel in defensive and offensive operations. A sapper's duties are devoted to tasks involving facilitating movement, defence and survival of allied forces and impeding those of enemies. The term "sapper" is used in the British Army and Commonwealth nations, Polish Army and the U.S. military. The word "sapper" comes from the French word sapeur, itself being derived from the verb saper.

FV432 armored personnel carrier

The FV432 is the armoured personnel carrier variant of the British Army's FV430 series of armoured fighting vehicles. Since its introduction in the 1960s, it has been the most common variant, being used for transporting infantry on the battlefield. In the 1980s, almost 2,500 vehicles were in use, with around 1,500 now remaining in operation - mostly in supporting arms rather than front-line infantry service.

The mine was roughly the size of a tin of shoe polish, made of plastic and coloured olive green. There was enough metal in their fuze to make them detectable. [1] Two inert training versions were available. One was bright orange to allow it to be easily spotted and recovered; the other was made from bio-degradable compressed peat.

Shoe polish product for leather care

Shoe polish is a waxy paste, cream, or liquid used to polish, shine, and waterproof leather shoes or boots to extend the footwear's life, and restore, maintain and improve their appearance.

Biodegradation Decomposition by living organisms

Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi.

FV432, with Bar Mine plough and Ranger scattering frame FV432 Armoured Personnel Carrier.jpg
FV432, with Bar Mine plough and Ranger scattering frame

The Ranger mine laying system could also be fitted to a four-tonne truck, Stalwart High Mobility Load Carrier or the combat support boat

Alvis Stalwart amphibious military truck

The Stalwart, formally classified by the British Army as Truck, High Mobility Load Carrier (HMLC), 5 Ton, 6 x 6, Alvis/Stalwart and informally known by servicemen as the Stolly, is a highly mobile amphibious military truck built by Alvis that served with the British Army from 1966 until 1992.

The mines were supplied by Thorn EMI and most [lower-roman 1] were supplied before 1986. [2] In June 1998, stocks of 1,110,000 mines were held. [2]

Thorn EMI major British conglomerate 1980-1996

Thorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence and retail. Created in October 1979 when Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but it demerged back to separate companies in 1996.

In accordance with treaties banning the use of anti-personnel mines, the UK has destroyed all its stocks of L10s by March 1999. [2]

Related Research Articles

Land mine Explosive weapon, concealed under or on the ground

A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automatically by way of pressure when a target steps on it or drives over it, although other detonation mechanisms are also sometimes used. A land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both.

Mine roller mine-clearing device

A mine roller or mine trawl is a demining device mounted on a tank or armoured personnel carrier, designed to detonate anti-tank mines. It allows engineers to clear a lane through a minefield which is protected by enemy fire.

Ottawa Treaty Anti-personnel landmine ban treaty

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine Ban Treaty, aims at eliminating anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines) around the world. To date, there are 164 state parties to the treaty. One state has signed but not ratified the treaty, while 32 UN states, including China, Russia, and the United States have not; making a total of 33 United Nations states not party.

Anti-tank mine form of land mine designed for use against armored vehicles (including tanks)

An anti-tank mine is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles.

Demining process of removing land mines from an area

Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By contrast, the goal of humanitarian demining is to remove all of the landmines to a given depth and make the land safe for human use. Specially trained dogs are also used to narrow down the search and verify that an area is cleared. Mechanical devices such as flails and excavators are sometimes used to clear mines.

Mine flail vehicle-mounted anti-mine device

A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a mine-field by deliberately detonating land mines in front of the vehicle that carries it. They were first used by the British during World War II.

Reibel machine gun machine gun

The MAC mle 1931 machine gun, was a machine gun used in French tanks of the World War II era, as well as in fortifications such as the Maginot line. It is also sometimes known as the JM Reibel, which actually stands for Jumelage de mitrailleuses Reibel, or Reibel twin-mounted guns and really refers to the specialized twin-mounting frame used in Maginot Line fortifications, while MAC mle 1931 refers to each gun. The JM twin-mounts were the standard emplacement for the mle 1931 in fixed fortifications, while tanks and other AFVs received single guns.

Demountable Rack Offload and Pickup System

The demountable rack offload and pickup system (DROPS) is a family of logistics vehicles operated by the British Army, which consists of two vehicle types:

M14 mine small anti-personnel land mine

The M14 mine "Toepopper" is a small anti-personnel land mine first deployed by the United States circa 1955. The M14 mechanism uses a belleville spring to flip a firing pin downwards into a stab detonator when pressure is applied. Once deployed, the M14 is very difficult to detect because it is a minimum metal mine, i.e. most of its components are plastic. Because of this, the design was later modified to ease mine clearance via the addition of a steel washer, glued onto the base of the mine.

M16 mine anti-personnel land mine

The M16 mine is a United States-made bouncing 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 and tilt 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.

M15 mine

The M15 mine is a large circular United States anti-tank blast mine, first deployed during the Korean War. Essentially, it is a larger version of the M6A2 anti-tank mine, which it replaced. Although the M15 has been superseded by the M19 mine, the U.S. retains large stocks of M15s because they are still regarded as reliable and effective weapons. When used against main battle tanks the M15 is primarily a "track-breaker" which creates mobility kills, but has a comparatively small likelihood of causing crew fatalities. However, when used against lighter vehicles such as APCs or unarmored vehicles such as trucks the damage inflicted is much more severe.

Blast resistant mine

A Blast resistant mine is a landmine with a fuze which is designed to be insensitive to the shock wave from a nearby explosion. This feature makes it difficult or impossible to clear such mines using explosive minefield breaching techniques. As a result, the process of clearing minefields is slower and more complex. Blast resistance can be achieved in a number of ways.

The FMK-1 is a small circular Argentina anti-personnel blast mine which, when fitted with a stiffened pressure plate, is also used as the fuze for the FMK-3 and FMK-5 anti-tank mines. The mine has a circular plastic body, with a number of small ribs running vertically around the outside of the mine, with the circular detonator and striker protruding on each side. The pressure plate has a distinctive six pointed star shape ribbing for stiffness. The bottom of the mine has small base plug inside which a small stud is installed. The stud increases the activation pressure of the mine. A metal detector disc can be added to the bottom of the mine, but it is not often used. It is actually in service with the Argentine Army.

Anti-handling device integral part of a landmine or other munition that prevents tampering and disarming

An anti-handling device is an attachment to—or an integral part of—a landmine or other munition e.g. some fuze types found in general purpose air-dropped bombs, cluster bombs and sea mines. It is designed to prevent tampering. When the protected device is disturbed, it detonates, killing or injuring anyone within the blast area. There is a strong functional overlap of booby traps and anti-handling devices.

Tilt-rod fuze

A tilt-rod fuze is a device used to trigger anti-vehicle landmines. Typically it consists of a vertical pole, normally around a meter high, which is connected to the top of a landmine. When the track or main body of a vehicle passes over the mine, the rod is tilted, releasing a spring-loaded striker which triggers a pyrotechnic delay of approximately half a second, followed by detonation of the main explosive charge. The small time delay allows the vehicle to continue over the mine before detonating, exposing more of it to the blast. A tilt-rod fuze has a number of advantages over pressure fuzes - it acts across the entire width of a vehicle, rather than just its tracks or tires. This allows it to attack the vehicle's belly and potentially cause a catastrophic kill. Additionally, tilt rod fuzes tend to be resistant to blast overpressure clearing methods, which can trigger most pressure fuzes.

Valsella Meccanotecnica SpA was one of Italy's largest manufacturers of land mines. The Company's headquarters initially were in Montichiari. It had two production plants in Castenedolo near Brescia, Italy. The three companies of Valsella, Tecnovar Italiana SpA, and Misar SpA together were the centre of Italian mine production.

Keiler (mine flail)

Keiler mine flail is a mine-clearing vehicle developed by Rheinmetall in Germany to meet German Army requirements. It is a conversion of the M48 Patton medium tank chassis in combination with a German MTU MB 871 Ka 501 liquid-cooled turbocharged Diesel engine. The main role of the Keiler vehicle is clear a lane through minefields to let soldiers and vehicles pass safely. A deployable mine flail system has been fixed to the front of the vehicle, being used to clear both anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. 24 Vehicles of this kind were produced between 1997-1998 for the German Army.

Land mines in the Falkland Islands

Approximately 30,000 land mines were laid in the Falkland Islands by Argentinian forces following their 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands. Some of the mines were cleared following the successful British operation to retake the islands but following a series of accidents demining operations ceased. In the intervening years the mine fields were fenced off and, with human access limited, became havens for Falklands flora and the native penguin population. The British government ratified the Ottawa Treaty in 1998 that required the removal of all mines within its territory. Demining operations restarted in 2009, though owing to the climate and local conditions much of the work must be done by hand and completion is not expected until 2020.

References

  1. ↑ Possibly all
  1. ↑ Ordata entry on the L10 mine
  2. 1 2 3 "United Kingdom". International Campaign to Ban Landmines . Landmine Monitor. Archived from the original on 2007-03-20.
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