The Giant Viper was a trailer-mounted, vehicle-pulled,

mine clearance Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By contr ...

system, designed to be deployed in areas containing

land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

s. It was developed for the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

in the 1950s. It was designed to be towed behind a

Centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...

gun tank, FV4003,

AVRE Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE), also known as Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers, is the title given to a series of armoured military engineering vehicles operated by the Royal Engineers (RE) for the purpose of protecting engineers duri ...

(Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers);Foss, p. 144 and also the FV432

Armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

. The Giant Viper used

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

s to launch a 250-metre-long hose, packed with

plastic explosive Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of explosives engineering, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives or blastics. Plastic explosives are especially suited for explos ...

, across a

minefield A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

. In the 1970s, the Giant Viper hoses were filled at ROF Chorley.Nevell, 48–49 Once it lands the charge is detonated, clearing a six-metre-wide path of anti-personnel and

anti-tank mine An anti-tank or AT mine is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive charge, and a fuze desi ...

s by sympathetic detonation. This cleared path has a length of around 200 metres. For safety, a vehicle fitted with a

mine plough A mine plow (plough in British English) is a device designed to clear a lane through a minefield, allowing other vehicles to follow. A mine plow is typically mounted to a tank or military engineering vehicle. Buried land mines are plowed up and ...

is driven through the cleared path before any other personnel, in order to push any undetonated mines safely out of the way. This system has been superseded by the Python minefield breaching system, employing the same methodology, but using more modern components. It improves accuracy of delivery, deployment speed, and the size of the cleared path, which is now 230 metres long and 7 meters wide. Python was designed to be towed behind an AVRE. The

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the army, land force of Greece. The term Names of the Greeks, '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches ...

's Engineer Corps still utilize the system.

Notes

References

* * {{cite book , last = Foss , first = Christopher F. , title = The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Tanks and Fighting Vehicles: A technical directory of major combat vehicles from World War I to the present day , year = 1977 , publisher = Salamander Books , location = London , isbn = 978-0-86101-003-5 , url-access = registration , url = https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc00foss Military engineering vehicles of the United Kingdom Mine warfare countermeasures Military equipment introduced in the 1950s

See also

Notes

References