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81-698: The XM1100 Scorpion , formerly known as the Intelligent Munitions System , was an anti-vehicle, smart ground munition developed by Textron Defense Systems as a safer alternative to traditional landmines. The Scorpion was originally a component of the Future Combat Systems program. It was a remotely controlled, integrated system of lethal and non-lethal munitions, ground sensors, and communication technology that could autonomously detect, track, and destroy light-wheeled to heavy-tracked vehicles. The XM1100 Scorpion consists of

162-613: A $ 115 million contract for the design and development of the XM1100 Scorpion and the similarly smart XM-7 Spider landmine system as part of the DoD's Future Combat Systems (FCS) acquisition program. However, decreases in the Army's funding and the high cost of developing the munition system caused the DoD to delete the project from the FCS contract, and the XM1100 Scorpion was established as

243-581: A captain, Rains had earlier employed explosive booby traps during the Seminole Wars in Florida in 1840. Over the course of the war, mines only caused a few hundred casualties, but they had a large effect on morale and slowed down the advance of Union troops. Many on both sides considered the use of mines barbaric, and in response, generals in the Union Army forced Confederate prisoners to remove

324-405: A cone-shape hole with gunpowder at the bottom, covered either by rocks and scrap iron ( stone fougasse ) or mortar shells, similar to large black powder hand grenades ( shell fougasse ). It was triggered by a flintlock connected to a tripwire on the surface. It could sometimes cause heavy casualties but required high maintenance due to the susceptibility of black powder to dampness. Consequently, it

405-408: A conflict. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, which are designed to disable tanks or other vehicles; and anti-personnel mines, which are designed to injure or kill people. The history of land mines can be divided into three main phases: In the ancient world, buried spikes provided many of the same functions as modern mines. Mines using gunpowder as the explosive were used from

486-404: A control station and a dispensing module containing the munitions. Each dispensing module can cover a minimum lethal area of 35 meters in diameter, which can be arranged to overlap the fields of other dispensing modules in order to expand the total range of surveillance. An operator supervising a single XM1100 Scorpion control station can control the activity of its corresponding dispensing module at

567-567: A few decades during the Cold War , the U.S. developed atomic demolition munitions , often referred to as nuclear land mines. These were portable nuclear bombs that could be placed by hand, and could be detonated remotely or with a timer. Some of these were deployed in Europe. Governments in West Germany , Turkey and Greece wanted to have nuclear minefields as a defense against attack from

648-413: A five-point pattern; and abatis , fallen trees with sharpened branches facing outwards. As with modern land mines, they were "victim-operated", often concealed, and formed zones that were wide enough so that the enemy could not do much harm from outside, but were under fire (from spear throws, in this case) if they attempted to remove the obstacles. A notable use of these defenses was by Julius Caesar in

729-482: A fuse to burn, became possible after electricity was developed. An electric current sent down a wire could ignite the charge with a spark. The Russians claim first use of this technology in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829 , and with it the fougasse remained useful until it was superseded by the claymore in the 1960s. Victim-activated mines were also unreliable because they relied on a flintlock to ignite

810-805: A global movement to prohibit their use led to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, also known as the Ottawa Treaty . To date, 164 nations have signed the treaty. However, China , the Russian Federation and the United States are not signatories. In the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (also known as

891-582: A hazard to allies as enemies. Tripwire-operated mines were not defended by pressure mines; the Chinese were often able to disable them and reuse them against UN forces. Looking for more destructive mines, the Americans developed the Claymore , a directional fragmentation mine that hurls steel balls in a 60-degree arc at a lethal speed of 1,200 metres per second. They also developed a pressure-operated mine,

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972-408: A magnetic trigger to detonate even if the vehicle's tires or tracks did not touch the mine. Advanced mines are able to sense the difference between friendly and enemy types of vehicles by way of a built-in signature catalog (an identification friend or foe system). This theoretically enables friendly forces to use the mined area while denying the enemy access. Many mines combine the main trigger with

1053-458: A million mines in two fields running across the entire battlefield and five miles deep. Nicknamed the " Devil's gardens ", they were covered by 88 mm anti-tank guns and small-arms fire. The Allies prevailed, but at the cost of over half their tanks; 20 percent of the losses were caused by mines. The Soviets learned the value of mines from their war with Finland, and when Germany invaded they made heavy use of them, manufacturing over 67 million. At

1134-415: A network with active members in some 100 countries—including groups working on women, children, veterans, religious groups, the environment, human rights, arms control, peace and development—working locally, nationally and internationally to eradicate antipersonnel landmines. A prominent supporter was Diana, Princess of Wales . The organization and its founding coordinator, Jody Williams , jointly received

1215-437: A person disturbs or approaches an apparently harmless object or performs an apparently safe act". Such actions might include opening a door or picking up an object. Normally, mines are mass-produced and placed in groups, while booby traps are improvised and deployed one at a time. Booby traps can also be non-explosive devices such as punji sticks . Overlapping both categories is the improvised explosive device (IED), which

1296-448: A pressure plate; this triggers a detonator or igniter, which in turn sets off a booster charge. There may be additional firing mechanisms in anti-handling devices. A land mine can be triggered by a number of things including pressure , movement, sound, magnetism and vibration . Anti-personnel mines commonly use the pressure of a person's foot as a trigger, but tripwires are also frequently employed. Most modern anti-vehicle mines use

1377-416: A range of up to 3 kilometers. Unlike traditional landmines, the activity of the XM1100 Scorpion munitions can be remotely turned on or off by the operator, allowing friendly vehicles to pass through the lethal area unharmed if necessary. However, once activated, the XM1100 Scorpion can fire four anti-vehicle smart munitions into the air, releasing a guided warhead on the target. The system is also connected to

1458-610: A series of anti-tank mines, the Tellermines (plate mines). They also developed the Schrapnell mine (also known as the S-mine ), the first bounding mine . When triggered, this jumped up to about waist height and exploded, sending thousands of steel balls in all directions. Triggered by pressure, trip wires or electronics, it could harm soldiers within an area of about 2,800 square feet. Tens of millions of mines were laid in

1539-673: A similar, but more reliable mine, the C3A1 ("Elsie") and the British army adopted it. The British also developed the L9 bar mine, a wide anti-tank mine with a rectangular shape, which covered more area, allowing a minefield to be laid four times as fast as previous mines. They also upgraded the Dingbat to the Ranger , a plastic mine that was fired from a truck-mounted discharger that could fire 72 mines at

1620-454: A stand-alone program in January 2007 under the supervision of the Army's Project Manager for Close Combat Systems (PM-CCS). During its development, the XM1100 Scorpion underwent multiple performance tests and design reviews. In 2009, a test series of the system at Fort Benning , Georgia evaluated the XM1100 Scorpion's ability to identify and engage targets in urban environments. Scientists in

1701-488: A time. In the 1950s, the US Operation Doan Brook studied the feasibility of delivering mines by air. This led to three types of air-delivered mine. Wide area anti-personnel mines ( WAAPMs ) were small steel spheres that discharged tripwires when they hit the ground; each dispenser held 540 mines. The BLU-43 Dragontooth was small and had a flattened W shape to slow its descent, while the gravel mine

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1782-418: A touch or tilt trigger to prevent enemy engineers from defusing the mine. Land mine designs tend to use as little metal as possible to make searching with a metal detector more difficult; land mines made mostly of plastic have the added advantage of being very inexpensive. Some types of modern mines are designed to self-destruct , or chemically render themselves inert after a period of weeks or months to reduce

1863-650: A wide range of conditions; it could be melted to fill a container of any shape, and it was cheap to make. Thus, it became the standard explosive in mines after the First World War. The British used mines in the Siege of Khartoum . A Sudanese Mahdist force much larger than British strength was held off for ten months, but the town was ultimately taken and the British massacred. In the Boer War (1899–1903), they succeeded in holding Mafeking against Boer forces with

1944-485: A wire that made a flintlock fire. Such mines were deployed on the slope in front of a fort. They were used during the Franco-Prussian War , but were probably not very effective because a flintlock does not work for long when left untended. Another device, the fougasse , was not victim-operated or mass-produced, but it was a precursor of modern fragmentation mines and the claymore mine . It consisted of

2025-685: Is "a device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating explosive material, destructive, lethal, noxious, incendiary, pyrotechnic materials or chemicals designed to destroy, disfigure, distract or harass. They may incorporate military stores, but are normally devised from non-military components." Some meet the definition of mines or booby traps and are also referred to as "improvised", "artisanal" or "locally manufactured" mines. Other types of IED are remotely activated, so are not considered mines. Remotely delivered mines are dropped from aircraft or carried by devices such as artillery shells or rockets. Another type of remotely delivered explosive

2106-463: Is an explosive weapon concealed under or camouflaged 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

2187-595: Is the cluster munition , a device that releases several sub munitions ("bomblets") over a large area. The use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of cluster munitions is prohibited by the international CCM treaty . If bomblets do not explode, they are referred to as unexploded ordnance (UXO) , along with unexploded artillery shells and other explosive devices that were not manually placed (that is, mines and booby traps are not UXOs). Explosive remnants of war (ERW) include UXOs and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO), devices that were never used and were left behind after

2268-585: Is the de facto monitoring regime for the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions of 2008. It monitors and reports on States Parties' implementation of and compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and more generally, it assesses the problems caused by landmines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war (ERW). The Monitor represents

2349-527: The Huolongjing ( Fire Dragon Manual ), describes hollow cast iron cannonball shells filled with gunpowder. The wad of the mine was made of hard wood, carrying three different fuses in case of defective connection to the touch hole. These fuses were long and lit by hand, so they required carefully timed calculations of enemy movements. The Huolongjing also describes land mines that were set off by enemy movement. A 9-foot (3 m) length of bamboo

2430-578: The Battle of Alesia . His forces were besieging Vercingetorix , the leader of the Gauls, but Vercingetorix managed to send for reinforcements. To maintain the siege and defend against the reinforcements, Caesar formed a line of fortifications on both sides, and they played an important role in his victory. Lilies were also used by Scots against the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, and by Germans at

2511-498: The Battle of Kursk , which put an end to the German advance, they laid over a million mines in eight belts with an overall depth of 35 kilometres. Mines forced tanks to slow down and wait for soldiers to go ahead and remove the mines. The main method of breaching minefields involved prodding the dirt with a bayonet or stick at an angle of 30 degrees (to avoid putting pressure on the top of the mine and detonating it). Since all mines at

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2592-551: The Battle of Passchendaele in the First World War . A more easily deployed defense used by the Romans was the caltrop , a weapon 12–15 cm across with four sharp spikes that are oriented so that when it is thrown on the ground, one spike always points up. As with modern antipersonnel mines, caltrops are designed to disable soldiers rather than kill them; they are also more effective in stopping mounted forces, who lack

2673-633: The Gulf War , and the Islamic State have all contributed to land mine saturation in Iraq from the 1980s through 2020. In 2019, Iraq was the most saturated country in the world with land mines. Countries that provided land mines during the Iran-Iraq War included Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Romania, Singapore, the former Soviet Union and the U.S., and were concentrated in

2754-610: The M14 ("toe-popper"). These, too, were ready too late for the Korean war. In 1948, the British developed the No. 6 antipersonnel mine , a minimum-metal mine with a narrow diameter, making it difficult to detect with metal detectors or prodding. Its three-pronged pressure piece inspired the nickname "carrot mine". However, it was unreliable in wet conditions. In the 1960s the Canadians developed

2835-721: The M23 chemical mine , which used the VX nerve agent , in 1960. The Soviets developed the KhF, a "bounding chemical mine". The French had chemical mines and the Iraqis were believed to have them before the invasion of Kuwait. In 1997, the Chemical Weapons Convention came into force, prohibiting the use of chemical weapons and mandating their destruction. By July 2023 all declared stockpiles of chemical weapons were destroyed. For

2916-537: The Mannerheim Line , integrated these natural defenses with mines, including simple fragmentation mines mounted on stakes. While the Germans were advancing rapidly using blitzkrieg tactics, they did not make much use of mines. After 1942, however, they were on the defensive and became the most inventive and systematic users of mines. Their production shot up and they began inventing new types of mines as

2997-648: The PMN anti-personnel mine . The MS3 has been found in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Ukraine. International Campaign to Ban Landmines The coalition was formed in 1992 when six organisations with similar interests (France-based Handicap International , Germany-based Medico International , UK-based Mines Advisory Group , and US-based Human Rights Watch , Physicians for Human Rights and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation ) agreed to cooperate on their common goal. The campaign has since grown and spread to become

3078-567: The Second World War , particularly in the deserts of North Africa and the steppes of Eastern Europe , where the open ground favored tanks. However, the first country to use them was Finland. They were defending against a much larger Soviet force with over 6,000 tanks, twenty times the number the Finns had; but they had terrain that was broken up by lakes and forests, so tank movement was restricted to roads and tracks. Their defensive line,

3159-741: The Snake and the Conger were developed for clearing mines, but were not very effective . One of the best options was the flail , which had weights attached by chains to rotating drums. The first version, the Scorpion, was attached to the Matilda tank and used in the Second Battle of El Alamein. The Crab, attached to the Sherman tank , was faster, at 2 kilometers per hour; it was used during D-Day and

3240-524: The Warsaw Pact . However, such weapons were politically and tactically infeasible, and by 1989 the last of these munitions was retired. The British also had a project, codenamed Blue Peacock , to develop nuclear mines to be buried in Germany; the project was cancelled in 1958. A conventional land mine consists of a casing that is mostly filled with the main charge. It has a firing mechanism such as

3321-471: The " Ottawa Treaty ") and the " Protocol on Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices ", a mine is defined as a "munition designed to be placed under, on or near the ground or other surface area and to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person or vehicle". Similar in function is the booby-trap , which the protocol defines as "any device or material which is designed, constructed or adapted to kill or injure and which functions unexpectedly when

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3402-594: The 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to bring about the Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Treaty). The signature of this treaty (which bans the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel mines) is seen as the campaign's greatest success. The prize was received on the organisation's behalf by its co-founder, Rae McGrath of the Mines Advisory Group and by Tunn Channareth, a Cambodian mine victim and ICBL activist. The ICBL monitors

3483-559: The Allies found ways to counter the existing ones. To make it more difficult to remove antitank mines, they surrounded them with S-mines and added anti-handling devices that would explode when soldiers tried to lift them. They also took a formal approach to laying mines and they kept detailed records of the locations of mines. In the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942, the Germans prepared for an Allied attack by laying about half

3564-514: The Army Battle Command Network, which allows military personnel to monitor enemy and non-combatant activity as well as prevent unwanted or unused munitions from becoming buried and forgotten. Development for the XM1100 Scorpion began as a response to the U.S. landmine policy directive of 2004, which banned the use of persistent landmines. In July 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) awarded Textron Defense Systems with

3645-488: The First World War, it was the standard explosive used by the British military. In 1847, Ascanio Sobrero invented nitroglycerine to treat angina pectoris and it turned out to be a much more powerful explosive than guncotton. It was very dangerous to use until Alfred Nobel found a way to incorporate it in a solid mixture called dynamite and developed a safe detonator. Even then, dynamite needed to be stored carefully or it could form crystals that detonated easily. Thus,

3726-620: The First World War, the Germans developed a device, nicknamed the "Yperite Mine" by the British, that they left behind in abandoned trenches and bunkers. It was detonated by a delayed charge, spreading mustard gas ("Yperite"). In the Second World War they developed a modern chemical mine, the Sprüh-Büchse 37 (Bounding Gas Mine 37), but never used it. The United States developed the M1 chemical mine , which used mustard gas, in 1939; and

3807-470: The First World War, they burst into about 1,000 high-velocity fragments; in the Franco-Prussian War (1870), it had only been 20 to 30 fragments. Nevertheless, antipersonnel mines were not a big factor in the war because machine guns, barbed wire and rapid-fire artillery were far more effective defenses. An exception was in Africa (now Tanzania and Namibia ) where the warfare was much more mobile. Towards

3888-634: The ICBL has 14 staff members based in Geneva (the central office), Lyon, Paris, and Ottawa. Additionally, the ICBL-CMC hosts several interns each year. The Mine Ban Treaty, or the Ottawa Treaty , is the international agreement that bans anti-personnel mines . Officially entitled The Convention on the Prohibition, Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on Their Destruction ,

3969-649: The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) merged into one unified structure, now known as the ICBL-CMC , in order to realize operational efficiencies and reinforce complementary work. The ICBL and the CMC campaigns remain separate and continue to remind governments of their commitments to implement and promote both treaties. Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor continues its unique civil society monitoring program on

4050-993: The Kurdish areas in the northern area of Iraq. During the Gulf War, the U.S. deployed 117,634 mines, with 27,967 being anti-personnel mines and 89,667 being anti-vehicle mines. The U.S. did not use land mines during the Iraq War . Landmines and other unexploded battlefield ordnances, contaminate at least 724 million square meters of land in Afghanistan . Only two of Afghanistan's twenty-nine provinces are believed to be free of landmines. The most heavily mined provinces are Herat and Kandahar. Since 1989, nearly 44,000 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) averaging to around 110 people per month. Improvised mines (IM) and ERW from armed clashes caused nearly 99 percent of

4131-604: The Ming dynasty to the American Civil War. Subsequently, high explosives were developed for use in land mines. Some fortifications in the Roman Empire were surrounded by a series of hazards buried in the ground. These included goads , one-foot-long (30 cm) pieces of wood with iron hooks on their ends; lilia (lilies, so named after their appearance), which were pits in which sharpened logs were arranged in

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4212-671: The Survivability Lethality Analysis Directorate (SLAD) at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) also conducted a series of live firing demonstrations at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and determined that the XM1100 Scorpion had achieved a “mobility kill,” demonstrating its capabilities in identifying and engaging remote-controlled, mobile targets. In 2010, successful performance testing at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona showed that

4293-521: The US developed the M24 , a mine that was placed off to the side of the road. When triggered by a tripwire, it fired a rocket. However, the mine was not available until after the war. The Chinese had a lot of success with massed infantry attacks. The extensive forest cover limited the range of machine guns, but anti-personnel mines were effective. However, mines were poorly recorded and marked, often becoming as much

4374-444: The XM1100 Scorpion had verified its operational reliability across all operational environments. However, the XM1100 Scorpion still faced termination risk due to lack of funding. In contrast, the development of the XM-7 Spider continued unhindered due to a $ 34 million contract awarded by Picatinny Arsenal in 2011. By 2013, the XM1100 Scorpion was integrated into the XM-7 Spider program. Land mine A land mine , or landmine ,

4455-420: The advantage of being able to carefully scrutinize each step they take (though forcing foot-mounted forces to take the time to do so has benefits in and of itself). They were used by the Jin dynasty in China at the Battle of Zhongdu to slow down the advance of Genghis Khan 's army; Joan of Arc was wounded by one in the Siege of Orléans ; in Japan they are known as tetsu-bishu and were used by ninjas from

4536-422: The aftermath. During the Cold War , the members of NATO were concerned about massive armored attacks by the Soviet Union. They planned for a minefield stretching across the entire West German border, and developed new types of mines. The British designed an anti-tank mine, the Mark 7 , to defeat rollers by detonating the second time it was pressed. It also had a 0.7-second delay so the tank would be directly over

4617-409: The beginning of the war had metal casings, metal detectors could be used to speed up the locating of mines. A Polish officer, Józef Kosacki , developed a portable mine detector known as the Polish mine detector . To counter the detector, Germans developed mines with wooden casings, the Schu-mine 42 (antipersonnel) and Holzmine 42 (anti-tank). Effective, cheap and easy to make, the schu mine became

4698-432: The blast, or by both. Land mines are typically laid throughout an area, creating a minefield which is dangerous to cross. The use of land mines is controversial because of their potential as indiscriminate weapons. They can remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming civilians and the economy. With pressure from a number of campaign groups organised through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines ,

4779-435: The butt end disturbed a bowl underneath and a slow-burning incandescent material in the bowl ignited the fuses. At Augsburg in 1573, three centuries after the Chinese invented the first pressure-operated mine, a German military engineer by the name of Samuel Zimmermann invented the Fladdermine (flying mine). It consisted of a few pounds of black powder buried near the surface and was activated by stepping on it or tripping

4860-416: The casualties recorded in 2021. During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine , both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used land mines. Ukrainian officials claim Russian forces planted thousands of land mines or other explosive devices during their withdrawal from Ukrainian cities, including in civilian areas. Russian forces have also utilized remotely delivered anti-personnel mines such as the POM-3 . In

4941-413: The end of the war, the British started to use tanks to break through trench defenses. The Germans responded with anti-tank guns and mines. Improvised mines gave way to mass-produced mines consisting of wooden boxes filled with guncotton, and minefields were standardized to stop masses of tanks from advancing. Between world wars, the future Allies did little work on land mines, but the Germans developed

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5022-423: The explosive. The percussion cap , developed in the early 19th century, made them much more reliable, and pressure-operated mines were deployed on land and sea in the Crimean War (1853–1856). During the American Civil War , the Confederate brigadier general Gabriel J. Rains deployed thousands of "torpedoes" consisting of artillery shells with pressure caps, beginning with the Battle of Yorktown in 1862. As

5103-489: The first time that NGOs have come together in a coordinated, systematic, and sustained way to monitor humanitarian law or disarmament treaties, and to regularly document progress and problems, thereby successfully putting into practice the concept of civil society-based verification. Since its creation in 1998, Monitor research has been carried out by a global network of primarily in-country researchers, most of them ICBL-CMC campaigners, and all content undergoes rigorous editing by

5184-415: The fourteenth century onward. Caltrops are still strung together and used as roadblocks in some modern conflicts. Gunpowder , an explosive mixture of sulfur , charcoal and potassium nitrate was invented in China by the 10th century and was used in warfare soon after. An "enormous bomb", credited to Lou Qianxia, was used in 1277 by the Chinese at the Battle of Zhongdu. A 14th-century military treatise,

5265-407: The global mine and cluster munition situation (through Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, its research and monitoring arm), and conducts advocacy activities, lobbying for implementation and universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, humanitarian mine action programs geared toward the needs of mine-affected communities, support for landmine survivors, their families and their communities, and a stop to

5346-408: The help of a mixture of real and fake minefields; and they laid mines alongside railroad tracks to discourage sabotage. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, both sides used land and sea mines, although the effect on land mainly affected morale. The naval mines were far more effective, destroying several battleships. One sign of the increasing power of explosives used in land mines was that, by

5427-727: The humanitarian and developmental consequences of landmines, cluster munitions, and explosive remnants of war. The activities of the ICBL-CMC are supported by a Governance Board representative of various elements of the ICBL that provides strategic, financial and human resources oversight. An Advisory Committee provides more regular input to staff and the working of the campaign. Four ambassadors serve as campaign representatives at speaking events and other conferences worldwide. They include Jody Williams , Tun Channareth (Cambodian landmine survivor), Song Kosal (Cambodian landmine survivor), and Margaret Arech Orech (Ugandan landmine survivor and founder of Ugandan Landmine Survivors Association ). Currently,

5508-461: The increasing mobility of war. The Germans developed the Skorpion system, which scattered AT2 mines from a tracked vehicle. The Italians developed a helicopter delivery system that could rapidly switch between SB-33 anti-personnel mines and SB-81 anti-tank mines . The US developed a range of systems called the Family of Scatterable Mines (FASCAM) that could deliver mines by fast jet, artillery, helicopter and ground launcher. The Iraq-Iran War ,

5589-417: The likelihood of civilian casualties at the conflict's end. These self-destruct mechanisms are not absolutely reliable, and most land mines laid historically are not equipped in this manner. There is a common misperception that a landmine is armed by stepping on it and only triggered by stepping off. This is not the case for almost all types of mine. In virtually all cases the initial pressure trigger detonates

5670-414: The military still preferred guncotton. In 1863, the German chemical industry developed trinitrotoluene ( TNT ). This had the advantage that it was difficult to detonate, so it could withstand the shock of firing by artillery pieces. It was also advantageous for land mines for several reasons: it was not detonated by the shock of shells landing nearby; it was lightweight, unaffected by damp, and stable under

5751-427: The mine, since mines are designed to kill or maim the victim rather than standing still until the mine can be disarmed. This misperception originated with the fictional portrayal of mines, often in movies in which the disarming of a mine is a source of narrative tension. Some types of mines do actually use this mechanism, though these types are rare. One example is the MS3, a pressure-release mine similar in appearance to

5832-636: The mine. They also developed the first scatterable mine, the No. 7 ("Dingbat"). The Americans used the M6 antitank mine and tripwire-operated bounding antipersonnel mines such as the M2 and M16 . In the Korean War , land mine use was dictated by the steep terrain, narrow valleys, forest cover and lack of developed roads. This made tanks less effective and more easily stopped by mines. However, mines laid near roads were often easy to spot. In response to this problem,

5913-452: The mines. Starting in the 19th century, more powerful explosives than gunpowder were developed, often for non-military reasons such as blasting train tunnels in the Alps and Rockies. Guncotton , up to four times more powerful than gunpowder, was invented by Christian Schonbein in 1846. It was dangerous to make until Frederick Augustus Abel developed a safe method in 1865. From the 1870s to

5994-598: The most common mine in the war. Mine casings were also made of glass, concrete and clay. The Russians developed a mine with a pressed-cardboard casing, the PMK40, and the Italians made an anti-tank mine out of bakelite . In 1944, the Germans created the Topfmine , an entirely non-metallic mine. They ensured that they could detect their own mines by covering them with radioactive sand; the Allies did not find this out until after

6075-407: The production, use and transfer of landmines, including by non-State armed groups. The ICBL participates in the periodical meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty process, urges states not parties to the treaty to join and non-state armed groups to respect the mine ban norm, condemns mine use and promotes public awareness and debate on the mine issue, organizing events and generating media attention. In 2011,

6156-710: The treaty is sometimes referred to as the Ottawa Convention . The Mine Ban Treaty was adopted in Oslo, Norway, in September 1997 and signed by 122 States in Ottawa, Canada, on 3 December 1997. As of March 2018, there were 164 States Parties to the Ottawa Treaty. The mine ban treaty suggest several agendas to member states: Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor is the ICBL-CMC's research and monitoring arm. It

6237-438: The war. Several mechanical methods for clearing mines were tried. Heavy rollers were attached to tanks or cargo trucks, but they did not last long and their weight made the tanks considerably slower. Tanks and bulldozers pushed ploughs that pushed aside any mines to a depth of 30 cm. The Bangalore torpedo , a long thin tube filled with explosives, was invented in 1912 and used to clear barbed wire; larger versions such as

6318-439: The weight fell, the wheels struck sparks against flint , igniting a set of fuses leading to multiple mines. A similar mechanism was used in the first wheellock musket in Europe as sketched by Leonardo da Vinci around 1500 AD. Another victim-operated device was the "underground sky-soaring thunder", which lured bounty hunters with halberds , pikes , and lances planted in the ground. If they pulled on one of these weapons,

6399-472: Was larger. Both were packed by the thousand into bombs. All three were designed to inactivate after a period of time, but any that failed to activate presented a safety challenge. Over 37 million Gravel mines were produced between 1967 and 1968, and when they were dropped in places like Vietnam their locations were unmarked and unrecorded. A similar problem was presented by unexploded cluster munitions. The next generation of scatterable mines arose in response to

6480-519: Was mainly employed in the defenses of major fortifications, in which role it used in several European wars of the eighteenth century and the American Revolution . One of the greatest limitations of early land mines was the unreliable fuses and their susceptibility to dampness. This changed with the invention of the safety fuse . Later, command initiation , the ability to detonate a charge immediately instead of waiting several minutes for

6561-439: Was waterproofed by wrapping it in cowhide and covering it with oil. It was filled with compressed gunpowder and lead or iron pellets, sealed with wax and concealed in a trench. The triggering mechanism was not fully described until the early 17th century. When the enemy stepped onto hidden boards, they dislodged a pin, causing a weight to fall. A cord attached to the weight was wrapped around a drum attached to two steel wheels; when

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