I try to keep up with the latest drone developments out of the Russo-Ukrainian War, so this funky remote-control mine-laying device caught my eye:
Ukrainian ground drone carrying TM-62 anti-tank mines being tested at military proving ground
📹https://t.co/KXT1hTplIO pic.twitter.com/No23BdTJNM
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) April 29, 2023
It looks like someone took a lawnmower chassis and replaced the mower blade and engine with a mine-laying servo.
#Ukraine: Judging by the video, the main idea is that this UGV "RATEL" is used as a mobile warhead that carries two TM-62 AT mines and whose goal is to be activated under a vehicle or tank. In the video, UGV was successfully tested on an old van. #UkraineRussiaWar️ #Russia pic.twitter.com/JRqtabl4nj
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Warfare (@WeaponsWarfare) April 29, 2023
RATEL is evidently the name of the device, and not connected to the South African Ratel IFV (though it wouldn’t shock me to see those show up in Ukrainian inventories, despite being fairly long in the tooth).
I first saw this mentioned in a Reporting from Ukraine video:
Not a whole lot of information there, either, but he did say “Recent combat footage shows that Ukrainians finally started using mine-laying drones in large numbers. Even though such drones cannot be driven far behind the front lines, they are very effective at mining the roads that go along the front line, especially those that connect Russian positions between the tree lines.”
There’s very little information available on this device online, but speculation on previous prototypes suggested they were trying to lay mines under enemy vehicles, which makes no sense. The Reporting from Ukraine description of them as an area denial weapon makes much more sense.
We think of mines as buried items, but laying them atop roads can take out unwary or distracted drivers, or cause them the to stop to clear the mines (a risky proposition, since they could be designed to explode at any removal attempt, and which subjects stopped targets to possible hostile fire), or to divert around into areas that may have buried mines (and we’ve seen plenty of video from Ukraine of Russian vehicles hitting mines buried to the side while trying to avoid some obstacle).
The Mine-Laying Lawnmower of Death (MLLoD) looks a bit more purpose-built than The Flying Yeet of Death or their wheeled RC bombs.
A whole lot of low-cost, low-tech drone innovation is coming out of this war…
Tags: drone, Military, mines, Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine, video
Boeing had something like this back during the abortive FCS fiasco. The idea goes back even further, and I remember seeing something about a self-reseeding minefield with mobile mines that would move to “heal” breaches, with more advanced systems that could do even more heinous sh*t like follow you home to your night laager and then find the fuel or ammo truck to blow up under…
It was nuts back then, because the processing power and programming simply weren’t up to the mission, but…? As we go on, we’re getting closer and closer to Phillip K. Dick’s “Second Variety”.
Can’t say I’m real happy about it all, either. I have a suspicion that there will be job openings in the future for people to be doing on-site psychological work with malfunctioning AI systems built in to weapons, much like the John Carpenter film “Dark Star” where Thermostellar Bomb #20 suffers an existential crisis that requires it be taught phenomenology…
That’s about how the world will go, I suspect. You won’t just have to disarm the damn things, you’re gonna have to talk them down off their ledges.
“Let there be light.”
LOL… I thought I was the only one who remembered that movie!
Now that’s adorable. Do they come in black and can they be housebroken?
You don’t housebreak Ukrainian LMOD, they housebreak YOU.
Especially if you happen to own a T-series tank.
Speaking of non-buried mines, I’m reminded of a story from the Spanish Civil War where columns were forced to halt by the expedient of placing a row of plates, face-down, across a road.
Not terribly useful until your target is properly wary of blemishes in the terrain, but once they are…
Technique still taught to this day. All you need is anything even vaguely mine-like… You can have a lot of fun seeding your minefields with false positive targets, as well. Which makes mine detecting with magnetic mine detectors lots and lots of fun…
Although, I’ve heard stories about guys finding cool stuff in Iraq while clearing mines. No idea as to the truth of it, but a relic or artifact doesn’t give off any less of a signal than a mine…
[…] INTRODUCING The Mine-Laying Lawnmower of Death. […]
I don’t think the purpose of this drone is to bury, or even to drop, mines. Looks like it’s meant to drive under armored vehicles or just up to softer targets and detonate. It’s a mobile warhead with the payload provided by an anti-tank mine for the sake of convenience.
The videos actually show the drone dropping mines on a road.
It’s basically a means to lay the mines out on already breached lanes in order to reseed the minefield in between attempts to pass the minefield. You could do it by hand, but then there’s the minor hazard of getting your Combat Engineers shot…
Something I am emphatically not in favor of, at all.
IF this had been developed by Raytheon or any of the other Beltway bandits, it would have cost $1B and taken 5 years.
@David,
Something very like this was already developed by the FCS program. Never made it into production, let alone issuance to the troops…
Anyone remember the German Army “Goliath” from WWII?
Yes, I talked about that here.
Hmmm…. mines work.
And we cheer our good friend Ukraine along in using them to secure its border.
Maybe a valuable lesson learned there.
Vehicle bottoms are about as vulnerable as tank tops. Add a video camera and no Russian will ever sleep well, especially if the Ukrainians have a mobile “Bouncing Betty” as well as anti-vehicle versions. Motorized grenades and claymores. Great fun.
At some point, one would hope that the new systems finally convince enough people that war is a mug’s game, and we stop doing it.
Sadly, I suspect that’s going to take virtually exterminating a huge swathe of the population. Too many idiots think war is a game, and that they can’t be hurt by it.
We’re well past the “F*ck around…” phase of this conflict, and I’m pretty sure that with the crap going on today with Prigozin, we’re well into the beginnings of the “…and find out.” phase. Next few weeks are going to be very interesting. Very, very interesting…
I wish I could describe the schadenboner I’ve got going right now, but modesty forbids. The idea of Wagner marching on Moscow from the Southern Military District and gathering up troops like Napoleon coming off Elba is just… Exquisite. Utterly, shamelessly exquisitely enjoyable for a former soldier that spent most of their career with the Soviets as the primary threat. Years of them supporting terrorists, dead friends… I cannot over-emphasize the glee I feel, watching this happen.
Of course, it will undoubtedly be yet another in the lengthy serial of “…and, then… It got worse.” events playing out down the years of Russian history. Self-inflicted wounds, all of them. I’m reminded of Stalin’s aid to Hitler which enabled the conquest of Western Europe, being turned on him in ’41.
The Russians always manage to turn up the most amusingly incompetent and short-sighted rulers.