M16 mine

M16 mine
A cutaway of an M16A2 mine
Type	Bounding anti-personnel mine
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1957–Present
Used by	See Description
Wars	Vietnam War, other
Production history
Produced	1950's-1974
Number built	Millions
Variants	M16A1 M16A2 KM16A2
Specifications
Weight	4.1 kg
Height	127 mm
Diameter	102 mm
Filling	Tetryl
Filling weight	182 g
Detonation mechanism	Various, including: S.Mi.Z 35 (pressure), Z.Z.35 (pull), Z.U.Z.Z. (tension release), E.S.Mi.Z (pressure and electric)

M16A1

The M16 mine is a U.S.-made bounding anti-personnel mine. It was based on captured plans 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 0.3 to 1.7 meters before one or both of the pyrotechnic delays detonates the main charge of the mine, which sprays high-velocity steel fragments 360° around the point of detonation. These metal fragments have an expected casualty radius of 27 meters for the M16 and M16A1 mines, and out to 30 meters for the M16A2 mine.

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 kilograms) 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 US retains stocks of M16A2 mines for use in any resumption of war in Korea.