Deadly Conventional Weapon of the Day: Anti-Personnel Mines

Anti-personnel mines: These little hidden bombs cause such havoc in civil wars around the world that they’ve been banned by most nations. The U.S. still insists on retaining the right to use them, though it doesn’t actively deploy them.

Best known is the Claymore mine developed by the U.S. in the 1950s and widely copied worldwide, but possibly most notorious is the Soviet “Butterfly” model that during the 1980s killed and maimed Afghan children who thought it was a toy.

“We make extremely rare use of mines anymore,” says Wright. “In the old days you had to go clean the mines up … now you’ve got to remember to send people to clean that area, [because] civilians or your own troops may run into them.”

The M18A1 Claymore is a directional anti-personnel mine used by the U.S. military. It was named after the large Scottish sword by its inventor, Norman A. MacLeod. The Claymore fires shrapnel, in the form of steel balls, out to about 100 meters across a 60° arc in front of the device. It is used primarily in ambushes and as an anti-infiltration device against enemy infantry. It is also of some use against soft-skinned vehicles.

Claymore mine detonating 50 feet away.

God Bless America again!

Courtesy Fox News