M15 Mine
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The M15 mine is a large circular United States anti-tank blast mine, first deployed during the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
. Essentially, it is a larger version of the M6A2 anti-tank mine, which it replaced. Although the M15 has been superseded by the M19 mine (a plastic-cased
minimum metal mine A minimum metal mine is a land mine that is designed to use the smallest amount of metal possible in its construction. Typically, the only metal components are located inside the fuze mechanism which triggers detonation. Both minimum metal anti-ta ...
of more modern design), the U.S. retains large stocks of M15s because they are still regarded as reliable and effective weapons. When used against
main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...
s the M15 is primarily a "track-breaker" which creates mobility kills, but has a comparatively small likelihood of causing crew fatalities. However, when used against light vehicles such as APCs or unarmored vehicles such as
truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...
s the damage it can inflict is much more severe.


Description

The mine consists of a large, circular rounded
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
case, with a central pressure plate. In the center of the pressure plate is the M4 arming plug, which has an arming lever which can be set to "ARMED" or "SAFE". The pressure plate sits on top of a belleville spring, which in turn rests directly over the M603 fuze. When sufficient downward pressure is applied to the pressure plate (i.e. when a vehicle drives over it) the concertina spring is compressed. This action transfers pressure onto the M603 fuze which fires, triggering
detonation Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with ...
. Because this mine has a metallic case, it is very easy to find it using even the most basic mine detector. However, a complicating factor is posed by the two secondary fuze wells. These enable
anti-handling device An anti-handling device is an attachment to or an integral part of a landmine or other munition such as some fuze types found in general-purpose air-dropped bombs, cluster bombs and sea mines. It is designed to prevent tampering or disabling, ...
s to be fitted: one on the side of the mine and one underneath. Additionally, a minefield containing M15 mines may also contain a number of minimum metal M19 mines, plus various antipersonnel mines of different types (e.g. the VS-MK2, SB-33, TS-50,
PMA-2 A Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) is a component used on the International Space Station (ISS) to convert the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) interface used to connect ISS modules to an Androgynous Peripheral Attach System#APAS-95, APAS-95 spac ...
or
PMA-3 PMA-3 may refer to: * PMA-3 mine, a Yugoslavian anti-personnel mine * Pressurized Mating Adapter-3, a spacecraft adapter used in the International Space Station {{disambiguation ...
), all of which are specifically designed to be difficult to find using metal mine detectors.


Fuzes

The M15 mine was originally intended to be fitted with the M600 single-impulse
fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates its function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fu ...
, which contained a glass
ampoule An ampoule (also ampul and ampule) is a small sealed vial which is used to contain and preserve a sample, usually a solid or liquid. Ampoules are usually made of glass. Modern ampoules are most commonly used to contain pharmaceuticals and chem ...
of liquid explosive. Unfortunately, the M600 fuze was sensitive to temperature variations and therefore unreliable. For example, freezing temperatures made the mine inert as the liquid froze, whereas temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius could cause the fuze to detonate spontaneously. Just as problematic was the fact that M600 fuzes were inherently unstable, making them dangerous to handle, particularly after having been kept in storage for some time. Because of these shortcomings, the M600 chemical fuze was removed from service around 1953 and replaced by the M603 single-impulse fuze, which used a mechanical trigger mechanism i.e. a belleville spring. The stockpile of M600 fuzes was destroyed at this time after being deemed too dangerous to use. The M603 fuze is inherently safe to handle and much more reliable. In addition to the standard M603 fuze, two additional fuzes are available: the M624
tilt-rod fuze Russian TM-57 mine with a tilt-rod fuze A tilt-rod fuze is a device used to trigger anti-vehicle landmines. Typically it consists of a vertical pole, normally around a meter high, which is connected to the top of a landmine. When the track or m ...
(which offers full-width attack capability) and the M608 double-impulse fuze. The M624 fuze requires of force to move the tilt rod, and once it exceeds 20 degrees of tilt the mine will detonate. The M608 double-impulse fuze will not detonate the mine when the first
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...
drives over it: instead, it simply arms itself so that the mine detonates when the second vehicle (e.g. an APC or perhaps a
truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...
towing a
howitzer The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...
) following in the tracks of the first tank drives over it – an event which might occur seconds, hours or even weeks later. The M608 double-impulse fuze is particularly useful when fitted to mines located on the outer edges of minefields, because this gives tank operators a false sense of security. The lead tank, for instance, can drive over 30 mines fitted with double-impulse fuzes without detonating any of them. This lures tank operators deep into the minefield, where they eventually trigger mines fitted with the M603 or M624 fuze (both of which operate exclusively in single-impulse mode) and become trapped. Attempts to recover the tanks or rescue victims are hindered by the fact that the M608-fitted mines previously driven over are now operating in single-impulse mode, and also because minefields containing M15 mines usually contain various antipersonnel mines as well, for instance the
M14 mine The M14 mine "Toepopper" is a small ( diameter) anti-personnel land mine first deployed by the United States circa 1955. The M14 mechanism uses a belleville spring to flip a firing pin downwards into a stab detonator when pressure is applied. On ...
and M16 bounding mine. An additional benefit of double-impulse fuzes is that they give mines a degree of protection against clearance techniques which use blast overpressure or
mine roller A mine roller or mine trawl is a demining device mounted on a tank or armoured personnel carrier, designed to detonate anti-tank mines. It allows combat engineers to clear a lane through a minefield which is protected by enemy fire. The device ...
systems.


Specifications

* Weight: 14.3 kg * Explosive content: 10.3 kg of
Composition B Composition B (Comp B), also known as Hexotol and Hexolite (among others), is a high explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenade ...
* Diameter: 333 mm * Height: 150 mm * Operating pressure: 160 to 340 kg (for the M603 pressure fuze)


Users

* : The United States holds a large inventory of this mine. In 1984 it had approximately 1,904,000 M15 mines in storage, of which around 70% were serviceable.


See also

* M23 chemical mine


References

{{Reflist, 2 * ''Jane's Mines and Mine Clearance 2005–2006'' Anti-tank mines Land mines of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1950s