Mines Other Than Anti-Personnel Mines (MOTAPM)
Characteristics and safeguards
Colin King
Mines Other Than Anti-Personnel Mines (MOTAPM)
Characteristics and safeguards
Past
Present
Residual threat
Safeguard options
Future
Conclusions
Past
World War II
Cold War
Skallingen, Denmark
60+ years
Tellermine 42
Present
Plastic casing
Minimum-metal
Electronic fuzing
Shaped Charges
Scatterable
30 years
Italian SB-81
Plastic-cased mines in the Falklands
30 years
Spanish C-3-B
Increased hazard
Czech PT Mi-Ba-III
Safeguards
Procedural
Technical
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Perimeter
Signage
Warning
Monitoring
Detectability
Self-destruct (SD)
Self-Neutralisation (SN)
Self-Deactivation (SDA)
Safeguards: Procedural
“Perimeter marked area”
Fencing and signage
Safeguards: Procedural
Active monitoring
Warn local
population
Safeguards: Technical
Detectability
Little impact
during war
Big impact during postconflict clearance
Safeguards: Technical
Self-destruction
"Self-destruction mechanism" means
an incorporated or externally attached
automatically-functioning mechanism
which secures the destruction of the
munition into which it is incorporated or
to which it is attached
CCW Amended protocol II
Safeguards: Technical
Self-destruction
"Self-destruction mechanism" means
an incorporated or externally attached
automatically-functioning mechanism
which secures the destruction of the
munition into which it is incorporated or
to which it is attached
CCW Amended protocol II
Safeguards: Technical
US BLU-91/B ‘Gator’
Self-destruct
Russian PTM-1G
Safeguards: Technical
Self-destruct
US BLU-91/B ‘Gator’
Russian PTM-1G
Electronic
Mechanical
SD failed during operational use
Electronic
Mechanical
Safeguards: Technical
"Self-neutralization mechanism"
means an incorporated automaticallyfunctioning mechanism which renders
inoperable the munition into which it is
incorporated
CCW Amended protocol II
Self-neutralisation
Safeguards: Technical
Self-neutralisation
"Self-neutralization mechanism"
means an incorporated automaticallyfunctioning mechanism which renders
inoperable the munition into which it is
incorporated
CCW Amended protocol II
Austrian ATM 2000-E
Safeguards: Technical
Self-deactivation
"Self-deactivating" means
automatically rendering a munition
inoperable by means of the irreversible
exhaustion of a component, for
example, a battery, that is essential to
the operation of the munition
CCW Amended protocol II
Safeguards: Technical
Self-deactivation
"Self-deactivating" means …a feature…
automatically rendering a munition
inoperable by means of the irreversible
exhaustion of a component, for
example, a battery, that is essential to
the operation of the munition
CCW Amended protocol II
Safeguards: Technical
Self-deactivation
French HPD F2
Battery discharge
Future
Larger area coverage
Greater lethality
Greater complexity
Higher cost
Greater selectivity
Textron Hornet WAM
Future
So what?
Larger area coverage
Fewer munitions
Greater lethality
Focussed effect
Greater complexity
Easy to incorporate SDA
Higher cost
Less widely used / proliferated
Greater selectivity
Less indiscriminate
Smaller charge
Conclusions
• MOTAPM are a long-term threat
• Self-destruct regularly fails
• Testing is often inadequate
• Future trends towards lower threat
Safeguards
Procedural
Technical
• Fence and mark minefields
• Inform and monitor
• Make mines readily detectable
• Incorporate self-deactivation