Area Denial Artillery Munition

Area Denial Artillery Munition (ADAM) is a family of United States land mines and 155 mm artillery projectiles.

FM 6-40 depiction of the M731 155mm projectile, featuring bisected view and close up of an individual M72 land mine.

The mines carried by these projectiles are the M67 long-duration anti-personnel mines and M72 short-duration anti-personnel landmines intended to maim or kill enemy combatants. The duration refers to the self-destruct time, which is set at the time of manufacture to 4 or 48 hours.

Once the mine lands, it launches seven tripwires before arming itself. Any disturbance of the tripwires will trigger the mine. The mine is entirely electrically detonated, if the battery level of the mine drops below a pre-set level - the mine self-destructs. Even if the mine does not self-destruct, the battery will fully discharge after 14 days, rendering the mine inactive.

The mines contain a spherical warhead in a void that also contains 51 g of M10 liquid propellant. The void allows the propellant fluid to settle under gravity in the correct position beneath the warhead so that the warhead is always launched in an upward direction irrespective of the initial orientation of the mine.

Upon activation the spherical warhead is launched upward to a height of 1–2 m where it detonates, producing approximately 600 fragments travelling at a velocity of 900 m/s.

Specifications

M67/M72 mine
  • Self-destruct time:
    • M67: 48 hours
    • M72: 4 hours
  • Height: 82.5 mm
  • Width: 57 mm
  • Weight: 540 g
  • Explosive content: 21.9 g of composition A5 (RDX/wax)

M692/M731 155 mm projectile
  • Weight (fuzed): 46.7 kg
  • Calibre: 155 mm
  • Length: 899 mm
  • Contents:
    • M692: 36 M67 mines (long delay)
    • M731: 36 M72 mines (short delay)

See also

References
  • Jane's Mines and Mine Clearance 2005-2006


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