OZM

The OZM-3, OZM-4 and OZM-72 are Soviet manufactured bounding type anti-personnel mines. (fragmentation-barrier mine, in the Russian and other post-Soviet armies as informally called "frog mine" or "witch" )

Armed OZM 3,4,72 anti-personnel mines
Armed OZM 4 anti-personnel mine in a minefield
OZM 3/4 anti-personnel mine schematic diagram
OZM 72 anti-personnel mine schematic diagram


They are normally painted olive green, and issued with a spool of tripwires and two green painted wooden or metal stakes for affixing the tripwires. Both OZM-3 and OZM-4 have cast iron fragmenting bodies while the OZM-72 also contains preformed steel fragments, and all three are issued with empty fuze wells, so a variety of fuzing options are possible.

Operation

The mines can be activated by a variety of fuzes, including electronic fuzes or command initiation, although they are most commonly fitted with an MUV booby trap switch which is activated by a tripwire.

On firing, a metal base plate remains in the ground, while the mine body is thrown up by a small lifting charge, but remains attached to a strong wire tether. When the end of the tether is reached at a height of approximately 0.5 m, the main charge explodes and scatters fragments of the casing across a wide area.

OZM mine may sometimes be laid directly on top of an MS-3 mine. The MS-3 is an anti-handling device which closely resembles a PMN mine, except that it has a "blister" on top and operates purely as a pressure-release boobytrap. Lifting an OZM mine (without rendering safe the MS-3 placed underneath) will trigger detonation.

Variants

OZM-3

  • Diameter: 7.6 cm
  • Height: 13 cm
  • weight: 3.2 kg
  • Fragmentation c TNT

OZM-4

Casing materialcast iron
Weight5.4 kg (12 LB)
Fragmentation charge (TNT)170 gr (0,39 LB)
Casing diameter90 mm (3,5 Inch)
Casing height170 mm (6,7 Inch)
Length of the sensor target (one-way)13 meters (42 Ft)
Sensor sensitivity1โ€“17 kg (2,2 - 39 LB)
Radius of guaranteed lethal destruction13 meters (42 LB)
Temperature usage range-60 to +60*C (-76 to 140*F)

OZM-72

Casing materialiron
Weight5 kg (11 LB)
Fragmentation charge (TNT)660 gr (1,49 LB)
Casing diameter108 mm (4,1 Inch)
Casing height172 mm (6,7 Inch)
Sensor sensitivity1โ€“17 kg
Radius of guaranteed lethal destruction25 meters (82,5 Ft)
Temperature usage range-60 to +70 *ะก (-76 to +158*F)
Number of preformed steel fragments2400 pcs.

Ottawa Treaty

Since the Ottawa Treaty, a number of countries have decided to retain their OZM mines, but convert them to command detonation only by destroying all fuzes which can be indiscriminately activated โ€“ potentially by non-combatants or animals. Belarus in particular has decided to keep 200,000 OZM-72.

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.