jhungary
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Well, someone had asked me to write something about how DPICM can be used for demining on the other Forum. So I am going to repost the original article I wrote there.
How to clear a minefield with Cluster Munition?
In the shortest of short answer, you can't if you are talking about AP (Anti-Personnel) mine, it can technically do if you are talking about AT (Anti-Tank) mine. To understand this, we need to talk about how DPICM (cluster munition) and how mine field works.
What is a DPICM
essentially, a DPICM is an artillery round with 60 or so "grenade" inside the round and distribute on detonation. Releasing the submunition on a pre-determined height, thus spreading those submunition over a large area, and then these submunition will itself detonate when it the ground with an impact fuse.
DPICM is considered better than conventional 155 munition because conventional 155 munition can only damage whatever lies inside the blast radius, which is usually 500-800 yards. But with DPICM (M864 for an example, with 64 grenade) it can spread over an area you could otherwise need 10-20 155 rounds to cover.
What are mine field??
Minefield is a defence fortification where you lay mine on a general area, there are 4 reasons (or rather 4 types of mine field) you want to lay mine according to US army field menu They are:
1.) Defensive Minefield - You lay mine to defend against certain area
2.) Tactical Minefield - You lay mine to denied access to certain road/passage and divert your enemy
3.) Nuisance Minefield - You lay mine to confuse and delay your enemy (usually done when you withdraw/retreat/vacate from an area)
4.) Decoy Minefield - You lay mine to trick your enemy.
There are 2 types of mines, AP and AT (well, there exist DP mine but not going to talk about here, this is about DPICM, not mine) AT mine is to denied enemy tank from accessing an area, while AP mine designed for personnel.
The different between AT mine and AP mine is generally, AT mine are lay on the road, while AP mine is buried or semi-buried under soil
How to clear minefield?
There are many ways to clear minefield, the most effective way (for us anyway) is to use M58 line charge (MICLIC), basically you tow a M58 trailer with a mine resistance vehicle and then use the M58 by setting up a line charge across an area, which will then detonate the unprotected Anti-Tank mine, and then you roll in with your MRAP and detonate any AP mine in order to clear an access corridor.
Otherwise you would need to send in the engineers, detect and defuse the mine manually, possibly under fire.
So how DPICM works on minefield?
It work in 2 ways. The first way it can works is exactly how it would work when you use M58, instead of shooting a line charge, you shoot submunition on the minefield and detonate the mine, however, as mentioned before, this will only work on AT mine because they are mostly above ground and unprotected (some mine are blast resistance like V.S-1.6 and it would also not work) but it wouldn't work on AP mine, as the are buried and protected by the dirt on top. The second way it would work is to use those DPICM round on your enemy fortification just above the minefield, that way you can suppress a larger area of enemy with cluster munition while you send in the engineers to cut a path thru the mine field with relative cover and safety as you are suppressing your enemy with DPICM.
The downside however, would be the undetonated submunition will become UXO (unexploded ordnance) and it inturn will become a mine. However, with a fail rate of 1-3% and these submunitions are usually safe to drive across, this would not present much of a challenge for people who demine with DPICM.
How to clear a minefield with Cluster Munition?
In the shortest of short answer, you can't if you are talking about AP (Anti-Personnel) mine, it can technically do if you are talking about AT (Anti-Tank) mine. To understand this, we need to talk about how DPICM (cluster munition) and how mine field works.
What is a DPICM
essentially, a DPICM is an artillery round with 60 or so "grenade" inside the round and distribute on detonation. Releasing the submunition on a pre-determined height, thus spreading those submunition over a large area, and then these submunition will itself detonate when it the ground with an impact fuse.
DPICM is considered better than conventional 155 munition because conventional 155 munition can only damage whatever lies inside the blast radius, which is usually 500-800 yards. But with DPICM (M864 for an example, with 64 grenade) it can spread over an area you could otherwise need 10-20 155 rounds to cover.
What are mine field??
Minefield is a defence fortification where you lay mine on a general area, there are 4 reasons (or rather 4 types of mine field) you want to lay mine according to US army field menu They are:
1.) Defensive Minefield - You lay mine to defend against certain area
2.) Tactical Minefield - You lay mine to denied access to certain road/passage and divert your enemy
3.) Nuisance Minefield - You lay mine to confuse and delay your enemy (usually done when you withdraw/retreat/vacate from an area)
4.) Decoy Minefield - You lay mine to trick your enemy.
There are 2 types of mines, AP and AT (well, there exist DP mine but not going to talk about here, this is about DPICM, not mine) AT mine is to denied enemy tank from accessing an area, while AP mine designed for personnel.
The different between AT mine and AP mine is generally, AT mine are lay on the road, while AP mine is buried or semi-buried under soil
How to clear minefield?
There are many ways to clear minefield, the most effective way (for us anyway) is to use M58 line charge (MICLIC), basically you tow a M58 trailer with a mine resistance vehicle and then use the M58 by setting up a line charge across an area, which will then detonate the unprotected Anti-Tank mine, and then you roll in with your MRAP and detonate any AP mine in order to clear an access corridor.
Otherwise you would need to send in the engineers, detect and defuse the mine manually, possibly under fire.
So how DPICM works on minefield?
It work in 2 ways. The first way it can works is exactly how it would work when you use M58, instead of shooting a line charge, you shoot submunition on the minefield and detonate the mine, however, as mentioned before, this will only work on AT mine because they are mostly above ground and unprotected (some mine are blast resistance like V.S-1.6 and it would also not work) but it wouldn't work on AP mine, as the are buried and protected by the dirt on top. The second way it would work is to use those DPICM round on your enemy fortification just above the minefield, that way you can suppress a larger area of enemy with cluster munition while you send in the engineers to cut a path thru the mine field with relative cover and safety as you are suppressing your enemy with DPICM.
The downside however, would be the undetonated submunition will become UXO (unexploded ordnance) and it inturn will become a mine. However, with a fail rate of 1-3% and these submunitions are usually safe to drive across, this would not present much of a challenge for people who demine with DPICM.
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