Anti-tank mine: specifications. Types and names of anti-tank mines

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Mines are the simplest robots designed to destroy the offensive potential of the enemy. Their device may be different, but the essence is the same. Without human intervention or when they are remotely actuated, they explode, forming damaging factors, the main and most common of which are a shock wave and a stream of damaging elements (or a cumulative jet). What is the difference between an anti-tank mine and an anti-personnel mine? This will be the story.

History of mine weapons

This type of engineering weapons has been known for a long time. The word mine itself used to mean not an installed charge with a fuse, but a kind of undermining under a fortification, breaking through in order to damage its defensive properties. This manhole made it possible to penetrate the fortress walls, and larger excavations contributed to the destruction of towers and other structures that prevented an attack. Then, as military technology developed, these underground passages were increasingly supplied with powder charges so that the process of crushing the bastions took place more intensively. In parallel with the change in the design of the charges themselvesthe fuses for them were also improved. Advances in electrical engineering have simplified the task of remote detonation. During the Crimean War, sea mines were widely used for the first time. The civil war between the northerners and southerners, which resulted in the unification of the United States (1861-1865), marked the beginning of the massive use of minefields during defensive operations. Anti-personnel mines in the form of samples similar to modern ones were tested during the First World War. Then they were treated as a forced measure, applicable only in cases where it was necessary to create a barrier that impedes the advance of a superior enemy.

Different mines are needed

Anti-personnel mines caused damage not only to soldiers, but also to horses, which were the main draft force of armies at the beginning of the 20th century. The mechanical vehicles that appeared, including armored ones, also suffered from charges buried in the ground, but they had not yet invented a special design designed to destroy the then clumsy and vulnerable tanks. The situation changed by the 1930s, when it became clear to forward-thinking strategists that the future war would become mobile, and aviation and armored forces would play the leading role in it. There is a special conversation about aviation, as the history of modernity has shown, there are also means against it that work automatically … But more on that later. In the meantime, a new type of engineering weapon has arisen - an anti-tank mine. With all the fundamental similarities with its anti-personnel "sister", it differs significantly from it. The problem that the designers solved when designingthis charge with a fuse was different.

What should an anti-personnel mine look like

A device created for the effective destruction of manpower must meet a number of tactical requirements. The explosion should create a large number of fragments flying at a sufficient speed to cause maximum damage. At the same time, the mine should be light, otherwise it will be difficult for sappers to carry and install it. An example is the so-called "Petals". Mines of the PFM-1 and PFM-1C types are copied from American samples under the name "Dragon's Tooth" (Dragontooth) - BLU-43. They are very modest in size, but cause significant damage to manpower, performing two tasks at once. Firstly, Petals, as a rule, do not inflict lethal injuries, but only cripple enemy soldiers, which creates an additional burden on the economy of the enemy power. Secondly, they can self-destruct (in modification "C"), which is very important when preparing an offensive.

T-35 and T-42 vs. T-34

Anti-tank mine, as its name implies, is used to destroy armored vehicles. The task set by the sappers when installing it is, at a minimum, to damage the undercarriage of the tank. Previously, it was believed that this was enough to delay the enemy offensive. For example, the German anti-tank mine T-35, used by the Wehrmacht during World War II against the troops of the Red Army and allies, had a total charge weighing a little more than 5 kg. The same characteristicsthe T-42 was approximately the same, both samples had a metal case, which made it easier to detect them with electric magnetic mine detectors. It was more difficult for sappers to find wooden ones, which were made in a handicraft way at the end of the war, but their charge was, as a rule, not very powerful. Almost every anti-tank mine of that time worked when a caterpillar hit it, the fuses were contact.

After the war

The war is over, but the tanks remain. And they were in service with countries that had recently been allies, and now have become potential adversaries. The experience gained in battles led to the improvement of anti-tank weapons, including mines. In addition, engineers and scientists did not sit idly by. The accumulated combat experience revealed the most vulnerable areas of armored vehicles, and new improved models were supposed to strike at them. In order to complicate detection, the cases began to be made of plastic, but this led to another problem. With the loss of maps of minefields, the work of sappers was significantly hampered. But the variety of fuses and methods of fire impact on armored vehicles has expanded.

TM-62

The most simple is the Soviet anti-tank mine TM-62M. Its design repeats the general ideas of the charges of previous decades. The case is made of metal, the fuse is contact and can withstand a load of up to 150 kg, which eliminates its accidental activation. It can be installed using mechanized means (for example, a caterpillar minelayerGMZ or helicopter systems), which increases the speed of mining the area. Charge weight - 7 kg, total weight - 10 kg. At its core, this is a land mine, the main action is air strike. After hitting the TM-62M, the tank's rollers fail, the hull is partially destroyed, the crew receives a severe concussion, and if the hatches are closed, they die. The main advantages of this mine are simplicity, high power, manufacturability, low cost and reliability. Based on it, a whole series of ammunition was created, differing in weight and shape.

Complication of the task

The most vulnerable point of any tank is its bottom. The armor is thinner both on the sides and in the area of the engine compartment, but to successfully destroy any unit of armored vehicles, it is enough to blow up the charge under it. For all its merits, the TM-62M mine does not fire under the bottom, but when it is hit by a caterpillar, and most of the air wave impact falls away from the side of the hull, which reduces the likelihood of ammunition detonation. In addition, in this case, the factor of secrecy plays an important role. A saboteur can place a charge in the path of enemy vehicles, but its weight must be relatively small. The TM-72 anti-tank mine is more complicated. It is cumulative in nature. This means that when it is activated, a powerful directed jet of hot gas appears, capable of penetrating thick armor. But that's not all, the mine fuse provides some delay, which guarantees an explosion in the middle of a moving tank, just where the most important andvulnerable nodes - ammunition and transmission. The device responds to changes in the magnetic field, which explains its some "capriciousness" and the likelihood of accidental operation. This is the disadvantage of all such ammunition. In addition, the TM-72 is quite easy to neutralize by trawling. Unless, of course, the enemy has information about the danger of mining.

Mechanical

The anti-tank mine TMK-2, which is considered more reliable, works in much the same way. Its difference is the fuse, which works according to the mechanical-lever principle. The pin target sensor sticks out of the ground, the mine becomes cocked after it deviates from the horizontal position, and after a short period of time (from a third to half a second, this is enough for the tank to advance half a hull), the charge explodes, forming a cumulative jet. The mass of the explosive is 6 kg. The destruction of the combat vehicle is guaranteed, but despite the greater reliability compared to the TM-72, one drawback remains: it is relatively easy to neutralize this ammunition. Detecting pins protruding from the ground is also not a big problem for an experienced sapper.

On the sides

Not only caterpillars and the bottom become a target for anti-tank mines. The design of the TM-73 seems to be quite successful, which is a set of a conventional Mukha grenade launcher, means of mounting it on the ground and a burst fuse. In other words, the bazooka fires when enemy vehicles break the integrity of the tripwire. More interesting arrangedmine TM-83. It is installed on the ground, its case is used as a bed. After bringing the charge into combat position, a seismic sensor starts to work, which reacts to the vibrations of the earth. If it is fixed, the infrared target indicator is turned on. The cumulative core pierces armor a decimeter thick from a distance of up to 50 meters. If no thermal trail is detected, the mine resets and waits for the next target.

And even an air defense system

Helicopters and attack aircraft are often referred to as flying tanks. This is quite fair, because aviation today can have powerful armor, artillery weapons, "borrowed" from ground equipment, not to mention missiles. The mines of the Russian Federation and other countries are designed to fight low-flying objects - both airplanes and helicopters. An example is a high-tech PVM device developed in the 1990s and designed to destroy aircraft with a cumulative core. The guidance system operates on two channels (acoustic and infrared). The “petals” of the mine in the combat position are laid out, forming a base, the sensor determines the sound of a flying target per kilometer, then the thermal sensor directs ammunition at it. The explosive, enclosed in a spherical shell, is fired at a speed of 3 km / s and pierces armor protection 12 mm thick. The distance of defeat is not less than one hundred meters. An anti-helicopter mine can be installed manually and from aircraft. The attack of enemy "flying tanks" will be repulsed.