M16 mine

The M16 mine is a U.S. made bounding anti-personnel mine. It is often referred to as a "Bouncing Betty"". It is a development of the World War II era German S-mine and has similar performance. The mine consists of a cast iron body in a thin steel sleeve. A central fuze well on the top of the mine is normally fitted with a pronged M605 pressure and tilt fuze. Sufficient pressure on the prongs or tension on an attached tripwire causes the release of a striker. The freed striker is forced into a percussion cap which ignites a short pyrotechnic delay. The purpose of this delay is to allow the victim to move off the top of the mine, to prevent its upward movement from being blocked. Once the delay has burned through, a 4.5-gram black powder charge is ignited, which launches the inner iron body of the mine up into the air (leaving behind the steel outer sleeve). The charge also ignites a second pair of pyrotechnic delays.

The mine rises to a height of approximately one meter, before one or both of the pyrotechnic delays triggers the main charge of the mine which sprays metal fragments in a 360-degree spread. The mine can produce casualties out to a radius of 35 meters, and the shrapnel presents a serious hazard at up to 200 meters.

The M16 and M16A1 mines are similar; the M16A1 has redesigned detonators and boosters but remains largely the same. The M16A2 is considerably different, having an offset fuse well and only a single pyrotechnic delay element. This change reduces the weight of the mine considerably (2.83 kilogram) while allowing it to carry a slightly larger main charge (601 grams)

The mines were sold widely and copies were produced in several countries including Greece, India, South Korea and Turkey. They can be found in the 'wild' in Angola, Burma, Cambodia, Chile, Cyprus, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Korea, Lebanon, Laos, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Oman, Rwanda, Somalia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Western Sahara, and Zambia. The USA retains stocks of M16A2 mines for use in Korea.

Variants

* M16
* M16A1 - Redesigned detonator and delay elements
* M16A2 - Single bounding delay element, reducing the weight
** KM16A2 - South Korean produced version of the M16A2

Demining

When emplaced, most of an M16 mine is buried underground so it can be extremely difficult to spot them visually, particularly in areas of long grass, heavy undergrowth or other debris. The M16 contains large amounts of metal, so is very easy to detect using a mine detector. However, it is important to note that the act of moving the detection head over the ground may strike the prongs and trigger the mine. In any case, other minimum metal mines may have been planted near to an M16 in order to protect it from mine clearance personnel. Additionally, if long tripwires are fitted, the M16 may "see" the deminers before they have chance to find it. When tracking the path of tripwires fitted to any bounding mine, great care must be taken: it is quite possible that additional antipersonnel blast mines (e.g. the M14) may have been buried beneath its path. Deliberately triggering the mines from cover, using some form of grappling hook attached to a long rope may be useful in some situations and provide an initial way in to the minefield before further clearance work begins. Using a grappling hook is unlikely to work well in areas of heavy undergrowth, where the hook will quickly snag on bushes etc.

ee also

*Valmara 59
*Valmara 69
*PROM-1
*OZM
*Land mine
*Ottawa Treaty

References

* "Jane's Mines and Mines Clearance 2005-2006"
* "Brassey's Essential Guide to Anti-personnel Landmines", Eddie Banks
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