The Mk 7 mine was a circular British
anti-tank blast mine. It replaced the World War 2-era
Mk 5 mine, and has in turn been replaced by the
L9 bar mine.
The Mk 7 can be laid either by hand or from a mechanical mine layer. The mine is conventional in design. It has a steel casing with a central, main fuze well, below which is a
tetryl
2,4,6-Trinitrophenylmethylnitramine or tetryl ( C7 H5 N5 O8) is an explosive compound used to make detonators and explosive booster charges.
Tetryl is a nitramine booster explosive, though its use has been largely superseded by RDX. Tetryl is a ...
booster charge, both surrounded by the main explosive filling of
TNT. The mine can be fitted with a variety of
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 ...
s, including a double-impulse fuze (which gives it some resistance to explosive
demining
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 cont ...
methods) or the L93A1
tilt-rod fuze,
which gives it a full width attack capability.
The mine has a secondary fuze well for an anti-lifting device and a mechanical
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, ...
was also produced for the mine, although this is reported to have never been used. The mine is currently being phased out of service with 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 ...
. The mine is found in Afghanistan, Angola, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
, Lebanon, Libya, Namibia, Oman, Somalia, and Zambia.
The two most modern variants of the mine, the Mk 7/4 (standard) and the Mk 7/7 (waterproof), were taken out of service by the UK by March 2003, after which disposal of existing stockpiles commenced.
A Soviet-era mine was responsible for the deaths of 10 Afghan girls, aged between nine and thirteen years, in December 2012. Two Mk7 mines were found nearby and presumed to be of the same type as the mine that exploded.
Specifications
* Diameter:
* Height:
* Weight:
* Explosive content: kg of
TNT
* Operating pressure:
Variants
* Mk 7/4 (standard)
* Mk 7/7 (waterproof)
References
Anti-tank mines of the United Kingdom
Cold War weapons of the United Kingdom
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