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MOSCOW, October 29 - RIA Novosti, Andrey Kots. The United Nations estimates that anti-personnel mines kill and maim 26,000 people in 75 countries every year. Any war, armed conflict or border dispute leaves behind thousands of dangerous "gifts" that remain decades later. deadly threat. Today, millions of undetected explosive devices of various configurations, shapes and combat capabilities lurk in the world. Anti-personnel mines are considered inhumane means of warfare, but most states continue to actively use them. The main damaging factor of this weapon - the soldier's fear of an invisible danger - stopped the advance of entire divisions. Cheap, cheerful and effective. RIA Novosti publishes a selection of the most dangerous anti-personnel mines in service with Russian army.
"Witch"
The fragmentation barrage mine OZM-72 was developed in the USSR in the early 70s, but is still in service. This is a very insidious and dangerous weapon belonging to the class of so-called jumping mines. Structurally, it consists of a steel "glass", an expelling charge and a warhead, in which 660 grams of TNT and 2400 submunitions. The operation of the "witch" occurs after a careless soldier touches the wire with his foot. The expelling charge throws a mine from the "glass" vertically upwards. Its detonation occurs at a height of 60 to 80 centimeters. The radius of continuous destruction of OZM-72 is 25 meters. To remain unharmed after its undermining is very difficult.
© Public Domain
© Public Domain
"Witch" was baptized by fire in Afghanistan, where mountain passes and gorges were mined. OZM-72 proved to be an effective and simple, but, unfortunately, illegible weapon. On April 20, 1984, during the Panjshir operation, soldiers of the 345th parachute regiment were blown up on the Witch. A single mine instantly killed 13 and injured 14 people. Later it turned out that it was installed Soviet troops during the previous operation.
"Petal"
The anti-personnel high-explosive mine PFM-1 "Petal" is never manually installed on the ground. These small explosive devices, each weighing only 80 grams, are made of polyethylene and are scattered on the ground using means remote mining. In Afghanistan, Soviet Su-25 attack aircraft "sowed" them on problem areas. A brown or green silhouette 12 cm long and 6.5 cm wide can not always be seen on the ground, especially at night.
"Petal" - brutal mine. Guaranteed to kill a person 37 grams of explosives are not capable, the defeat is caused by injuring the lower leg. During the explosion, practically no lethal fragments are formed, with the exception of the metal parts of the mechanism in the central part of the mine. However, the foot is torn clean. A unit that has run into a minefield quickly loses its combat effectiveness. The wounded must be bandaged and taken to a safe place. It is hardly worth specifying that the demoralizing factor of the insidious "Petal" is huge.
"Monka"
The anti-personnel directional fragmentation mine MON-50 was developed in the 1960s and 1970s and still remains one of the most effective. It can be installed on the ground, in the snow, at the entrances to the premises, mounted on trees. The mine is detonated by the operator from the control panel when an enemy appears in the affected area or when the fuse tension sensor is touched. All living things in the sector along the horizon of 54 degrees and at a height of 15 centimeters to 4 meters are "mowed down" by 540 striking elements.
MON-50 is ideal for organizing ambushes along the route of enemy columns. Seven hundred grams of explosive and hundreds of submunitions can disable even an army truck. And in order to accurately calculate the sector of destruction, the miner can use a special sighting device at the top of the monk.
"Black Widow"
The PMN pressure anti-personnel mine has been in service with engineering and sapper units of the Russian army since 1950, as well as a number of CIS countries and far abroad. The "Black Widow", as it was nicknamed during the Vietnam War by the US military, is a fairly powerful high-explosive mine. It is not equipped with striking elements, damages the target inflicts explosive- 200 grams of TNT. The light weight of the product (550 grams) allows the sappers to pick up these mines with a margin and quickly turn a wide area of terrain into an impenetrable "swamp" for enemy infantry.
Detonation, as the name suggests, occurs when the mine cover is pressed. Such an explosion leads to death or to very serious injuries. This mine could be found in any country affected by armed conflict in the second half of the last century. It was the PMN that deprived Shamil Basayev, one of the leaders of the Chechen gang underground, when he and his accomplices broke out of Grozny in January 2000.
"Edema"
The POM-2 "Edema" anti-personnel fragmentation mine of tension action, like the PFM-1, is installed on the ground by remote mining. The peculiarity of this weapon is its independent "character". After the POM-2 falls to the ground, the process of bringing it into combat position begins, which lasts about a minute. First, the locks of six spring-loaded blades are opened, which, leaning back from the body, raise it to a vertical position. Then, from the upper part of the body, they shoot at different sides four anchor weights pulling thin broken wires behind them. From this moment, the mine is in a combat position, and the countdown of the combat work time begins, which can range from 4 to 100 hours. After this time, the ammunition self-destructs.
© Public Domain
© Public Domain
A mine explosion occurs when any of the four wires breaks. The radius of continuous damage is up to 16 meters. POM-2 provides a circular defeat of targets. At the same time, it is impossible to remove it - "Edema" is non-removable and non-neutralizing.
Explosive device NVU-P is designed to control the operation of five anti-personnel fragmentation mines(acting as a sensor and target identifier and issuing a command to detonate another mine).
NVU-P allows you to install guided and unguided groups of anti-personnel mines from five OZM-72 (MON-50) mines and provides for sequential detonation of mines in a group with repeated target impacts.
The device consists of an executive-distribution device (electronic unit), a SV-20P seismic target sensor, five NM electric spike devices, five coils with a microelectric cable, a MUV-4 fuse and five fragmentation anti-personnel mines.
In addition, for every twenty sets, one testing and adjustment unit or a combined instrument Ts4313 is issued, and for every 12 sets, one control panel MZU
Separately, one TNT checker (75, 200 or 400 gr.) is attached to each set of NVU-P.
Operation of the device - 5 anti-personnel fragmentation mines are connected to the executive distribution device using an electric cable, which are installed in accordance with the selected mining scheme. For each mine, a two-core copper insulated microcable is pulled from the device. The standard mines of the kit are mines OZM-72 or MON-50, but it is possible to connect any anti-personnel fragmentation mines with sockets for attaching fuses MD-5M (MON-100, MON-200, POMZ-2M, OZM-3, OZM-4) or min, which can be initiated by an electric pulse (OZM-160, OZM with UVK, OZM-3).
A seismic sensor is buried in the ground near the executive switchgear, connected to the device by a cable.
The device at the place of work is constantly in standby mode. When moving targets (equipment, people) appear in the detection zone, the seismic sensor transmits the registered vibrations of the soil to the device. In the device, the received information is processed and the nature of the target and its removal are recognized. If the target is identified as a person, then the device is switched to combat mode. The distance to the target and the azimuth to it are specified.
As soon as the target is in the zone of effective destruction of one or more mines, the mine closest to the target is determined, after which an electric pulse is sent to the electric device attached to the mine and one mine explodes.
Similarly, all available mines are controlled.
The device reliably identifies the movement of a person (walking, running, crawling slowly or quickly, moving on skis) and distinguishes it from the background of the movement of equipment and animals in any soil and weather conditions. The error probability is 0.0004. If the soil conditions where the NVU-P is used differ significantly from the reference ones, then the device is preliminarily trained and adjusted using a testing unit and adjustment to specific terrain conditions. These settings, recorded by the test and adjustment unit, can be used to set up all other instruments that will be installed in the area.
We explained the essence of this device to the soldiers simply - it is a mine that explodes five times in a row.
There is no way to approach and neutralize it. The seismic sensor is almost impossible to deceive. Detection by any devices or devices is currently almost impossible, because. so far there are no devices that detect mines from a distance of 150 meters.
In addition, this thing is very insidious. When the first soldiers are blown up, then, believing that this is an ordinary explosion on an ordinary mine, the orderlies or comrades rush to them. But the second mine explodes, incapacitating the saviors. An attempt by the wounded to crawl away from the affected area leads to the detonation of the third mine. And the OZM-72 mine explodes at a height of about 1 meter, hitting both those walking and crawling. It remains to lie and bleed. It seems you are still alive, but there is no chance to survive. The one who died immediately is happier.
The funny thing (if I may say so) here is that with all this cruel insidiousness of the NVU-P, the device does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Ottawa Convention in any way, because the device itself is not a mine, and the mines attached to it are no longer mines, but striking elements ( submunition).
(c) Minesweeper website
I found the topic of Mines in the survival section, and I realized that almost no one knows anything about mines, so read on, if people like it, I’ll give even more detailed information.
Black Widow - "Black Widow", this name was given to this Soviet mine, known in the world no less than the famous Kalashnikov assault rifle, and just as widespread.
For the first time, this mine was talked about during the Vietnam War of 1964-1975. Along with the fighting, the “black widows” also spread through the jungle: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. In 1967, the "widows" reached the Middle East, where they were actively used by the Egyptian and Syrian troops. Thousands of them were installed during the Soviet-Afghan war from 1979 to 1989. This mine could be found in any country affected by armed conflict in the second half of the last century. It was this mine that deprived Shamil Basayev of his leg when he broke through from Grozny with militants in January 2000. It is quite possible that it was the journalist Dmitry Kholodov who picked her up in his office when the explosion struck.
Like the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the PMN mine was born in the USSR in 1949 and, like an assault rifle, was and is being produced under licenses and without them in many countries. In China, under the designation Type 58, in Hungary - Gyata 64, in Argentina - FMK-1, in Bulgaria - PMN, as well as in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Cuba, etc. There is no exact data on why the mine was dubbed the "black widow". Maybe because of the black color of the rubber cover, or because a person who steps on it has little chance of surviving. But most likely - because of that irrational fear of mines, which covers even fired and experienced soldiers, paralyzes their will, deprives them of courage and the ability to move forward.
Curse of the Infantry
In fact, mines in all wars killed and maimed far fewer people than from bullets, shells and bombs. Oddly enough, but the main damaging factor of an anti-personnel mine is not the force of the explosion and not the fragments. Mina cripples not so much the body as the soul of a soldier. Mine fear (another name is mine horror) - that's what stops the advancing infantry, that's what makes the fighters afraid to take even a step. Moreover, the more experienced the soldier, the more he fights, the stronger the mine horror.
But the probability of stepping on a PMN mine in a standard Soviet minefield is only 0.07, that is, out of a hundred soldiers who fall into such a field, only seven will be blown up. And meanwhile, knowing that there is a minefield ahead, the soldiers will refuse to attack or, realizing that they are in a minefield, they will lie down and prefer to become stationary targets for enemy machine guns, rather than rush forward or retreat back.
A soldier in battle is, of course, afraid of both bullets and shells. But he understands that there is a similar soldier on the other side and cannons and machine guns are also firing at him - there is a confrontation. Who is more skillful, experienced, brave, fast, and more likely to win and stay alive. Not so with mine. And the consciousness that you yourself set your killer in action deprives a person of courage and paralyzes his will.
Let's take a closer look at PMN. This is a Soviet anti-personnel high-explosive pressure mine. Anti-personnel - that is, designed specifically to destroy or injure a person. High-explosive - striking force explosion. Push action - it means that it will explode only when pressure is applied to it with a force of at least 8–25 kg. To work, it is enough to step on.
Inside the mine is a charge of TNT weighing 200 g. When a mine explodes, the stepped leg usually comes off to the knee. What happens to the second leg depends on whether the person was walking or running. In the first case, he is very likely to lose his second leg; in the second - the leg can survive. In addition, a powerful shock wave deprives a person of consciousness, drives the remnants of shoes, clothes, fragments of his own bones into his body, and hot explosive gases cause severe burns. If a person blown up by a mine is not provided with timely first aid, death from pain shock or large loss of blood may occur.
Frost-resistant option
Along with all its advantages, the PMN also had a very significant drawback: the time to bring the mine into combat position depended on temperature. If at a temperature of + 40 ° C the mine is transferred to a combat position after 2-3 minutes, then at -40 ° C it takes two and a half days - the cold sharply increases the resistance of the safety plate metal to cutting (see sidebar).
Therefore, by the second half of the sixties, the armament Soviet army PMN-2 mine was adopted. It differed from the PMN in that instead of a cut metal element, a rubber bellows was installed in it, in other words, a short rubber corrugated tube, which was in a compressed state in the safety position. Such devices are called "long-range cocking mechanisms" in the language of miners. Pulling out the safety curly brace, the miner released the bellows, which began to fill with air through the calibrated holes and straighten out. At the same time, at the end of its straightening, the bellows released a spring-loaded engine with a detonator, which stood opposite the drummer.
The PMN-2 mine, in addition to the fact that the time it took to bring it into combat position depended incomparably less on temperature (under all conditions from 2 to 10 minutes), had another valuable property - it was always ready for work. The only operation that the miner performed was that he turned and pulled out the safety bracket. But the PMN was first required to be prepared for work: unscrew the plug, insert a detonator into the mine, wrap the plug, unscrew the plug on the opposite side of the mine and check the serviceability of the metal element.
The charge of the mine was halved, since it was recognized that 200 g of TNT was a bit too much - a man had enough of half the charge. True, TNT was replaced with a more powerful TG-40 explosive (a mixture of TNT and RDX). The actuation force was raised from 8-25 kg to 15-25 kg in order to increase the mine's resistance to explosive demining. However, PMN-2 turned out to be much more difficult to manufacture and, consequently, much more expensive. She was not popular. If PMN is widely known throughout the world, then PMN-2 was used to a limited extent, mainly in the CIS, Afghanistan and some other countries. And it was produced exclusively in the Soviet Union.
Widow's heirs
By the end of the seventies, it ceased to satisfy the military and PMN-2. The maneuverable nature of modern wars, their short duration led to the fact that their own minefields often became a hindrance to the troops. In addition, after the end of hostilities, minefields had to be cleared, which took a lot of resources and time.
It was required that after a certain time, anti-personnel mines either become safe or self-destruct. Therefore, the PMN-3 mine was developed, which outwardly did not differ from the PMN-2, but had an electronic fuse that ensured reliable operation of the mine under the soldier’s foot, excluding the explosion of the mine from the impact of a shock wave on it when demining charges were detonated (due to the difference in duration pressure on the mine of the shock wave and legs) and automatically detonated the mine after a predetermined period. It was possible to pre-set the counter for a period of 0.5 to 8 days, after which the mine exploded without harming anyone. Knowing the time of the combat work of the minefield, the commanders were sure that by the right time this minefield would no longer exist.
But the eighties came, the army's funding began to decline, and a much cheaper mine was needed. It was decided to abandon the production of expensive PMN-3 in favor of the last cheap version of the Soviet high-explosive anti-personnel pressure mine - PMN-4. This mine is smaller both in diameter (9.5 cm) and in height (4.2 cm) and in the mass of the explosive charge (a total of 50 g of TG-40). The cocking mechanism was hydraulic. After removing the safety clip, the rubber gel began to extrude through the calibrated holes, which took from 1 to 40 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature. After that, the mine became in a combat position. The self-liquidation mechanism was abandoned for economic reasons. The era of completely different mines was coming.
Miners are no longer needed
Mines of the 21st century must self-install and self-destruct. But what they should not do is cause significant losses to the enemy.
Second World War turned out to be very flexible. The troops of the belligerents traveled many thousands of kilometers. In one campaign, the front line often moved hundreds of kilometers. The nature of the war was determined by the presence of means of attack (aircraft, tanks). Under these conditions, mine weapons have received maximum development as a very important means of defense.
However, even in World War II, the periods of trench warfare were quite long. The opposing armies could stand against each other for months, building up strength. So there was usually quite enough time to lay many kilometers of defensive minefields, and the warring armies managed with a very small number of sappers, who slowly and methodically, day after day, put more and more new mines.
Today, the means of attack are clearly and far superior to the means of defense. Attacking troops can move at very high speeds, quickly transferring even heavy weapons (tanks, artillery) as easily as infantry.
This means that the one who is stronger, who has more troops, can concentrate forces in the right place at the right time and create superiority. The defender, on the other hand, is always late: he is forced to adapt to the actions of the attacker, to wait until he shows himself, in order to then take defensive measures.
Mines for defense
Under these conditions, mines for the defending side acquire especially importance. They can slow down the onslaught of the enemy while forces are being transferred to the attacked area; you can use mines to force the attackers to change the direction of movement in the desired direction; you can make them waste time and stagnate while making passes among the many mines - all this allows you to buy time, create an advantage in forces and launch a counterattack.
However, today the speed of movement of troops is so great that conventional traditional mines no longer keep up and do not meet the requirements of the time. Too long to install each of them; in addition, their installation requires specialist sappers, who also need to be transferred to the right place, like infantry. As long as the sappers can complete the task of laying a minefield in front of the advancing enemy, they will already be hopelessly late. Blocking the entire front line in advance and creating continuous minefields is unrealistic and impractical. Too many mines, sappers and time will be required for this. Another very significant drawback of traditional mines is that they equally block the movement of both the enemy and their own. Saving their troops from attacks, they simultaneously do not allow them to hit the enemy, so that in some cases their own minefields become a hindrance to themselves.
From here, in the end, the requirements for mines of the late XX - early XXI century were developed. Firstly, the mine must be such that it does not require a specialist sapper to install it; all processes of bringing into combat position should occur automatically. Secondly, the mine must be delivered to the mining site faster than the enemy can be there. Thirdly, the mine should only be placed where and only when required, and should not require the presence of a person to place it.
Fourthly, the mine should disappear as soon as it is no longer needed. Fifthly, the main task of the mine is to stop the enemy or slow down his movement. And, finally, sixthly, the task of the mine to inflict significant losses on the enemy is no longer as relevant as before.
When these, in many respects contradictory, requirements were formulated, mines appeared with completely new principles of installation and use - mines of the 21st century. In Soviet military terminology, such mines were called "mines of remote mining." The Americans called them Scatterable Mines ("scattered mines"). Both of these terms are rather clumsy and cumbersome and do not reflect the essence of this new class of mines. But what to do until nothing better is invented.
Butterflies of death
In fact, the Germans became the pioneers in remote mining. Already in 1939, they had a small-caliber fragmentation bomb (only 2 kg), which received the designation SD-2 Schmetterling (“butterfly”). Several dozen of these bombs were placed in the body of a large cluster bomb. The bomber dropped a cluster bomb over the enemy, it opened up in the air, and the "butterflies" dispersed in the air, covering a much larger area than one large fragmentation bomb.
It is not known who came up with the idea to make sure that the "butterflies" do not explode when they touch the ground, but only work when someone touches them, "peacefully" lying on the ground. The aim was simple - to complicate the actions of orderlies to assist the wounded after an air raid. So intuitively a way was found to mine the area by means of aviation, without the participation of sappers and the need to be present in the minefield. After all, these SD-2s lying on the ground were real anti-personnel mines, and the area on which they were scattered was a real anti-personnel minefield.
However, neither the Germans themselves nor their opponents understood what kind of discovery had been made. Mining without miners! After all, if you put SD-2 in the cassette in the version of mines, you get a typical aviation system for remote mining. However, the time for such mines had not yet come. It came during the Vietnam War. Previous articles mentioned Graval series mines, BLU-43/B Dragontooth, BLU-42/B Devil apples and their Soviet counterparts. However, these were the first experiments, the development of mining techniques without miners. All the above-mentioned mines were very small in size, and their striking ability was small. For example, the Soviet POM-1 mine was, in fact, weaker than the F-1 grenade.
After some time, the Americans abandoned Graval, BLU-43 / B Dragontooth, BLU-42 / B Devil apples and created more advanced and powerful samples of anti-personnel mines for remote mining, combining them into a group of systems called Family of Scatterable Mines - FASCAM ( "Family of remote mining systems FESKEM"). These mines are delivered and installed using artillery shells (ADAM system), ground spreaders (GEMSS, MOMPS, Ground Volcano systems), helicopters (Air Volcano system), front-line aircraft (Gator system). All mines of the FASCAM family thus meet the six requirements listed above.
The Soviet Union (Russia) retained some analogues of American mines (PFM-1, POM-1) in service, as they proved their effectiveness during the Afghan war, and later during both wars in Chechnya. However, even in the Soviet Union they realized the need to create more powerful mines of remote mining systems. So the first anti-personnel mine of remote mining POM-2 was created.
All in sight
Someone will say - they say, too many noticeable objects remain lying on the minefield - lids from cassettes, lids from glasses, the glasses themselves with long white fabric ribbons. And a vertically standing mine about 18 cm high is too noticeable. This is true. But back to the fifth point of the requirements that apply to modern mines. The main task of the minefield is to stop and detain the enemy.
And it doesn’t matter at all whether he stops because his soldiers begin to undermine, or because the soldiers see clear signs of a minefield. And it is unlikely that anyone will dare to neutralize even clearly visible POM-2 mines. After all, it is not known when this thing decides to self-destruct, that is, to explode on its own. Let armored vehicles in front, which can make these mines explode, but for which POM-2s are not dangerous? And what if PTM-1 or PTM-3 anti-tank mines lie on the same minefield, which are placed in exactly the same cassettes and can be installed simultaneously on the same minefield as POM-2? So the only thing left for the troops is to wait until the sappers arrive with the appropriate means of making passages in the minefields.
And then wait until the sappers complete their task and clear the way. But this is exactly what was required - to delay the movement of troops. Moreover, the opposite side does not sleep: as soon as the sappers finish their work, a helicopter appears over the field with a new portion of mines ...
You can, of course, call fighters that will not allow the helicopter-miner to do "its dirty work." But a little deeper in the enemy defenses, trucks (UMZ) or tracked vehicles (UGMZ) are already crawling across the field, from which new mines fly out one after another. And instead of a rapid offensive, breaking through the defenses and entering the operational space, a long and tedious slow advance begins with losses, large expenditures of forces and means, and fuel consumption. The military in this case say: "The offensive is stuck in minefields."
Political question
Today the USA and united Europe are many times stronger than Russia. If a major military conflict happens, Russia can only defend itself. But Europe will advance. From this it becomes clear all the activity regarding the prohibition of mines as "inhumane" weapons: the attackers especially do not need mines. Mines are the weapon of the defender, the weakest side. To deprive Russia of an important means of defense is the goal of the Ottawa Mine Ban Convention. And colorful photographs of legless children (supposedly victims of mines) are nothing more than a distortion of facts. A modern mine destroys itself as soon as it is no longer needed. Here's a much stranger fact: European countries they categorically refuse to talk about concluding a convention on the obligatory equipping of all aerial bombs and artillery shells with self-destruction devices. After all, it is no secret that the fault of mines (the simplest home-made, as a rule) in the suffering of the civilian population from explosions in the post-war period is no more than 5-10%. The remaining 90-95% are victims of unexploded rockets, shells, bombs and hand grenades.
Explosive device NVU-P "Hunting"
The explosive device NVU-P is designed to control the operation of five anti-personnel fragmentation mines (acting as a sensor and target identifier and issuing a command to detonate another mine).
NVU-P allows you to install guided and unguided groups of anti-personnel mines from five OZM-72 or MON-50 mines and provides for sequential detonation of mines in a group with repeated target impacts.
Simply put, whenever a person is in the detection zone, only one mine out of five explodes.
When the NVU-P is installed in a controlled version, the multiple transfer of the device to a combat or safe position is carried out from the MZU control panel via a two-wire cable. The length of the control line is determined by the resistance of the cable used and the power of the current source connected to the MZU console, and can be up to several hundred meters
The device consists of an executive-distribution device (electronic unit), a SV-20P seismic target sensor, five NM electric spike devices, five coils with a microelectric cable, a MUV-4 fuse and five fragmentation anti-personnel mines.
In addition, for every twenty sets, one testing and adjustment unit or a combined instrument Ts4313 is issued, and for every 12 sets, one control panel MZU
Separately, one TNT checker (75, 200 or 400 gr.) is attached to each set of NVU-P.
Operation of the device - 5 anti-personnel fragmentation mines are connected to the executive distribution device using an electric cable, which are installed in accordance with the selected mining scheme. For each mine, a two-core copper insulated microcable is pulled from the device.
The standard mines of the kit are mines OZM-72 or MON-50, but it is possible to connect any anti-personnel fragmentation mines with sockets for attaching fuses MD-5M (MON-100, MON-200, POMZ-2M, OZM-3, OZM-4) or min, which can be initiated by an electric pulse (OZM-160, OZM with UVK, OZM-3).
A seismic sensor is buried in the ground near the executive switchgear, connected to the device by a cable.
The device at the place of work is constantly in standby mode. When moving targets (equipment, people) appear in the detection zone, the seismic sensor transmits the registered vibrations of the soil to the device. In the device, the received information is processed and the nature of the target and its removal are recognized. If the target is identified as a person, then the device is switched to combat mode. The distance to the target and the azimuth to it are specified.
As soon as the target is in the zone of effective destruction of one or more mines, the mine closest to the target is determined, after which an electric pulse is sent to the electric device attached to the mine and one mine explodes.
Similarly, all available mines are controlled.
The device reliably identifies the movement of a person (walking, running, crawling slowly or quickly, moving on skis) and distinguishes it from the background of the movement of equipment and animals in any soil and weather conditions. The error probability is 0.0004. If the soil conditions where the NVU-P is used differ significantly from the reference ones, then the device is preliminarily trained and adjusted using a testing unit and adjustment to specific terrain conditions. These settings, recorded by the test and adjustment unit, can be used to set up all other instruments that will be installed in the area.
For mines of the OZM-72 type, the target detection range is about 120-150 meters, and the range at which the explosion command is issued is about 15 meters.
The diagram shows the place of the device in red, the mine installation sites in blue, the target detection zone in pale pink, the zone for issuing a command to detonate one mine in pale green, and the mine destruction zone in blue.
Thus, with the explosion of any mine, a person finds himself in the zone of effective destruction.
From the author. This explosive device has another conditional name "Hunting Set". We explained the essence of this device to the soldiers simply - it is a mine that explodes five times in a row.
There is no way to approach and neutralize it. The seismic sensor is almost impossible to deceive. Detection by any devices or devices is currently almost impossible, because. so far there are no devices that detect mines from a distance of 150 meters.
In addition, this thing is very insidious. When the first soldiers are blown up, then, believing that this is an ordinary explosion on an ordinary mine, the orderlies or comrades rush to them. But the second mine explodes, incapacitating the saviors. An attempt by the wounded to crawl out of the zone
defeat leads to the detonation of the third mine. And the OZM-72 mine explodes at a height of about 1 meter, hitting both those walking and crawling. It remains to lie and bleed. It seems you are still alive, but there is no chance to survive. The one who died immediately is happier.
The funny thing (if I may say so) here is that with all this cruel insidiousness of the NVU-P, the device does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Ottawa Convention in any way, because the device itself is not a mine, and the mines attached to it are no longer mines, but striking elements ( submunition).
Externally, the device is a case (metal cylinder), inside which the electronics unit is located in the upper part, and six round batteries of type 373 (R20) are placed in the lower part.
The electronics unit is attached to the metal cover from below. The lid is secured to the body with three hinged locks. On the outer side of the cover there is a connector for connecting a seismic sensor (a seismic sensor in the figure on the left below); six connectors for connecting NM-type electric needle devices (one of them is visible on the right, attached to a TNT block located on the case); a cassette with five slots for electric needle devices and cable reels; nest for fuse type MUV-4; indicator lamp; a connector for connecting a testing and adjustment unit, as well as a connector for connecting an MZU control panel.
In the picture on the left is one of the NM electric needle devices.
Before installing the NVU-P, it is necessary to mark the installation locations of the device and 
mines, so that the mine strike zones are larger than the zone for issuing an explosion command, so that the affected zones overlap each other and so that at least one of the mines does not appear to be outside the zone for issuing an explosion command. Then it is necessary to install the device and the mines in their places (prepare the mines in the usual manner, excluding screwing in the fuses) and stretch the wire lines from the device to the mines, screw the electric devices into the sockets for the fuses.
In the picture on the right is an OZM-72 mine with a MUV-2 fuse. Here, instead of it, an electric device is screwed in.
In the figure on the left, an OZM-72 mine in a section with an NM electric device screwed into the fuse socket.
Using the testing and adjustment unit, check the serviceability of the wire lines and the operability of the device. Bury or disguise wire lines, mines and the device, leaving only the MUV-4 fuse on the surface, which is screwed into the socket on the device cover last.
After the order of the senior commander to bring the group of mines into combat position is received, pull out the combat pin of the MUV-4 fuse and, after the fuse has worked out the deceleration time, its striker, having worked, will close the combat circuit of the device.
If NVU-P is installed in a controlled version, then the MUV-4 fuse is not installed, and the ends of the control cable are connected to special connectors, which is located at a distance of 200 meters from the device.
From this moment on, the NVU-P is in a combat position and will remain in it until the battery voltage falls below the permissible limit (several months). If the combat operation of all the mines did not occur, then after the expiration of the combat operation period, determined by the operability of the batteries, the device will issue a command to detonate all the mines and self-destruct.
The device does not have an internal self-destruction device, but if it is supposed to self-destruct, then a TNT checker is attached to the body of the device using electrical tape (the place where the checker is attached in the upper picture is indicated by a white rectangle). The fuse MD-5M is inserted into the checker, to which the sixth electric device is screwed (the cutaway drawing of the device shows a TNT checker designed for self-destruction of the device. The explosion of the checker occurs when the command for self-destruction is issued after all five minutes have worked or the voltage of the power source drops to a minimum allowable size.
The design features of the NVU-P and its installation make it possible to consider a group of mines as non-retrievable and non-disposable. The late version of NVU-P with the index NVU-PM has an additional circuit in the device that causes the explosion of all mines when you try to cut any electrical cable (mine or sensor) or open the cover of the device. Thus, approaching the NVU-PM by car and attempting to neutralize the device from the car is inexpedient, which was not excluded for the NVU-P.
The standard NVU-P triggering device is the MUV-4 fuse without a fuse, but it is possible to use the MUV-2 and MUV-3 fuses. The deceleration time is determined by the deceleration time of the applied fuse.
In addition, it is possible to bring the NVU-P into a combat position in an uncontrolled version remotely using a demolition machine or other current source. In this case, instead of the MUV-4 fuse, the NM electric device is used, connected by a wire line to the blasting machine. However, issuing a command to transfer the NVU-P to a safe position in this case is impossible.
When installed in a controlled version, to transfer the mine to a combat or safe position, the MZU control panel is used, which is connected via a wire line to a special connector on the upper surface of the executive distribution device. In this case, the fuse MUV-4 is not used, and the closing and opening of the combat circuit of the device is carried out by the control panel.
The late version of the NVU-PM device has a built-in electronic timer that switches the device to a safe position daily for a specified period of time (up to three times per day), which allows you to safely move around the minefield during these periods of time. This allows you to have passages in the minefield, to install new mines to replace those that have worked.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the NVU-P explosive device
| Type of explosive device .......................................... | control 5 mines seismic |
| Body material .................................................................. ........ | metal |
| Diameter................................................. ......................... | 15.5cm. |
| Height................................................. ......................... | 36.2cm. |
| Curb weight .......................................................... | 4.2 kg. |
| Number of mines serviced ............................... | 1-5 |
| Used mines (regular).................................. | OZM-72, MON-50 |
| Use of mines is possible................................... | MON-100, MON-200, POMZ-2, POMZ-2M, OZM-3, OZM-4, OZM-160, OZM with UVK |
| Time of combat work .............................................................. .... | 4-9 months |
| Possible range of setting mines from the device .... | 2-15m. |
| Target sensor type .............................................................. .......... | seismic |
| Target detection range .............................................. | 120-150 m. |
| Target recognition range .............................................. | not less than 90m. |
| The range of issuing a command to detonate a mine .......... | 15-20m. |
| Transfer time to combat position: MUV-4 ............................................... ............................... MUV-2, MUV-3....................................... ................. |
6min-36min 13 min. -59 hours |
| Temperature range of application .......................... | -40 - +50 degrees |
| Source of power................................................ ........ | 6 batteries type 373 (R20) |
| Self-destruction .............................................................. ......... | by the explosion of the last mine or by the source of power |
| Self-neutralization .............................................................. .... | No |
| Controllability................................................. ............ | unmanaged/managed |
| Retrievability ............................................... ............ | non-retrievable in a stand-alone version, extractable in a managed version |
| Neutralization .............................................................. ... | not neutralized in an autonomous version, neutralized in a controlled version. |
The NVU-P troops are supplied in boxes 85x43x25.7 cm in size. Gross weight 32kg. The box contains four executive distribution devices, five blocks of pinning devices (five NM each plus five connecting microcables), five seismic sensors, one Ts4313 device, four MUV-4 fuses, four NM pinning mechanisms, a 100-meter control cable, four case for fuses MD-5M, a roll of electrical tape, a place for twenty-four batteries 373 (R20).
Mines, fuses, batteries, checkers for self-destruction NVU-P are completed in the unit before use.
In each box, one seismic sensor and one block of needle devices are redundant (fifth).
Warning! The text in the English, shown belowis not translated from Russian. It is the information about NVU-P offered by Colin King. The information in Russian is more authentic.
description.
NVU-P is a seismic initiation system designed for use with four MON-50 or OZM-72 fragmentation mines. The system is often known as VP-12, although this is actually the designation for the electronics package. NVU-P was developed from the VP-4 (sometimes known as UMK) and its battery pack, VP-5, to incorporate both elements into a single housing. NVU-PM is a modification using the VP-13 electronics package. The top section is attached to the cylindrical body with three clips; when these are released the whole assembly can be lifted out of the tubular casing. Internally, the upper portion is taken up with electronics, while the lower section accepts six 1.5 V batteries. On the top of the system are five spools of lacquered copper wire for connecting to mines. There is an arming switch with a red Light Emitting Diode (LED) indicator and a further pair of black firing leads. Two four-pin sockets are also located on the top; one of these accepts the connector of an SV-20-P geophone. The unit is normally colored olive green and has a white rectangle marked on the side for positioning a self-destruct demolition block.
operation.
With the geophone embedded in the ground near the unit, the mines are connected to the five sets of firing leads. The system is armed and the LED lit, when the striker of a metal-bodied MUV-4 delay fuze is released onto the contact in the fuze socket. After this, the unit will initiate the mines when footsteps are detected by the geophone, which has a range of approximately 15 m. The system has an inbuilt facility to self-destruct just before the batteries expire. To achieve this, a TNT block is taped to the side of the casing, on the area marked with the white rectangle. It is connected to the black firing leads via an NM initiator and MD-5M detonator assembly. Battery life is temperature dependent, but is likely to exceed two months.
Neutralization and disarming.
There is no safe technique for approaching this system when it is active. If the casing is exposed, then projectile attack should be considered. Where the NVU-P (VP-12) has been used, the leads to mines may be cut, whereas NVU-PM will initiate all mines if any of the wires are cut.
Specifications
| Weight | 2 kg | Diametr | 110mm. |
| Height | 250mm. | Mines issued with NVU-P | OZM-2 or MON-50 |
general information
| Used in | Afghanistan, Chechnya |
| Emplacement | Manual |
| Detectability | Easily detectable |
| Anti-handling | NVU-PM functions if wires are cut, see above |
| Blast resistance | Unlikely to be affected by overpressure unless the casing, wires or geophone are damaged |
| manufacturer | State factories |
notes
The NVU-P is extremely difficult to defeat. The system analyzes the interval and intensity of the geophone signal to determine whether a target is valid. It is able to discriminate reliably between human footsteps and the movement of animals. Modern versions incorporate an electronic clock which can be set to allow the unit to be approached at certain times of day.
Sources
1. Non-contact explosive device NVU-P for anti-personnel fragmentation mines. Instructions for the material part and application. Ministry of Defence. 1986
2. Engineering ammunition. Guide to the material part and application. Book six. Military publishing house. Moscow.
3.Jane's website (www.janes.com)
4 Colin King Editor Jane's Mines and Mine Clearance.
