The POM-3 "Medallion" (''ПOM-3, )'' is a Russian

bounding Bounding may refer to: * Establishing limits on the behavior of a process or device, see Listing and approval use and compliance * Bounding overwatch, a variety of military maneuver * A cyclical type of jumping Jumping or leaping is a form ...

anti-personnel mine An anti-personnel mine or anti-personnel landmine (APL) is a form of land mine, mine designed for use against human, humans, as opposed to an anti-tank mine, which target vehicles. APLs are classified into: blast mines and fragmentation mines; ...

Design

The POM-3 is a scatterable mine of roughly cylindrical shape, able to be deployed from the air or by ground forces. The Russian ISDM Zemledelie mine-laying rocket launcher, in service since 2021, can deploy the mines in a range from 5 to 15 km. Once the mine hits the ground, stabilized by a small parachute, it stands upright on six spring-loaded feet on hard ground, or sticks into the ground if it is soft. The mine is activated by a seismic sensor forced into the ground. The sensor detects approaching footsteps and activates the mine if it determines that a person is within lethal range (about 16 meters). Upon activation, a fragmentation charge is ejected into the air and explodes. The mine has a

self-destruct A self-destruct is a mechanism that can cause an object to destroy itself or render itself inoperable after a predefined set of circumstances has occurred. Self-destruct mechanisms are typically found on devices and systems where malfunction coul ...

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 ...

that detonates the mine 8 or 24 hours after deployment. The POM-3 weighs 1.3kg and has a shelf-life of 11 years.

Use in war

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

reported in March 2022 that Russian forces in the eastern

Kharkiv oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

used POM-3 mines in the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

.{{Cite web , date=2022-03-29 , title=Ukraine: Russia Uses Banned Antipersonnel Landmines , url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/29/ukraine-russia-uses-banned-antipersonnel-landmines , access-date=2022-03-30 , website=Human Rights Watch , language=en The use of anti-personnel mines is prohibited by the

Ottawa Treaty The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine ...

, to which Ukraine, but not Russia, is a party.

Design

Use in war

References

See also