Development and Production of New Landmines (2024)

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The Bush administration’slandmine policy states, “The United States will continue to developnon-persistent anti-personnel and anti-tank landmines.”21According to budget documents released in February 2005, the Pentagon isrequesting $688 million for research on and $1.08 billion for the production ofnew landmine systems between fiscal years 2006 and 2011.22

New U.S. landmines will have a variety of ways of being initiated, both command-detonation (that is,when a soldier decides when to explode the mine, sometimes called“man-in-the-loop”) and traditional victim-activation. As noted above, a minethat is designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity, or contact of aperson (i.e., victim-activation) is prohibited under the Mine Ban Treaty.

U.S. officials have noted that self-destruct features willlimit the time that these mines will be able to remain in a victim-activatedmode and that enhancements to the current technology will continue to beresearched and developed.23 Additionally,“future tactical barriers may include a new generation of landmines oralternative systems.”24

Matrix

Matrix is a new landminesystem designed to allow an operator equipped with a laptop computer toremotely detonate lethal and non-lethal Claymore mines by radio signal from adistance. The Pentagon has not made public what this distance is.25Matrix is an adaptation of the technology developed under the Spider program(see below), in order to get it into the field rapidly. According to a StateDepartment official, Matrix is a command and control system, and “not alandmine.”26

A total of twenty-five Matrixsystems were reportedly to be sent to Iraq for use by units of the Army’sStryker Brigade by May 2005.27 The Pentagon andState Department have not responded to requests from Human Rights Watch forconfirmation if this deployment has taken place.

In late February 2005, HumanRights Watch raised questions about the potential harm these mines could poseto civilians.28 One questionrelated to how a soldier would be able to make a positive identification of histarget from great distances. A second question was whether civiliansthemselves could inadvertently detonate the mines, rather than a soldieroperating the system. The original technology behind Matrix was designed with afeature, sometimes called a “battlefield override switch,” that substitutedactivation by a victim for detonation by command.

The U.S. Army Program Managerresponsible for Matrix subsequently told Human Rights Watch that the systemrelies on [unspecified] types of electro-optical and infrared sensors to detectintrusion, and on visual target identification; no tripwires are used.29However, the operating distance for Matrix remains unknown, and thus concernsabout visual identification remain. Moreover, it remains unknown if the Matrixsystem contains a battlefield override feature, and the Pentagon has not givenconcrete assurances that civilians cannot accidentally detonate Matrixcontrolled Claymore mines.

Spider

Spider is the result of theNon-Self-Destruct Alternative (NSD-A) program. The Spider system consists ofa control unit capable of monitoring up to eighty-four hand-emplaced unattendedmunitions that deploy a web of tripwires across an area. Once a tripwire istouched by the enemy, a man-in-the-loop control system allows the operator toactivate either lethal or non-lethal effects.30

Spider contains theaforementioned battlefield override feature that removes the man-in-the-loopand allows for activation by the target (or victim). In the words of thePentagon, “Other operating modes allow Spider munitions to functionautonomously without Man-in-the-Loop control (i.e. target activation), ifnecessary, to respond to the combat environment; the operator can regaincontrol of the munitions at any time.”31In an earlier report to Congress,the Pentagon stated, “Target Activation is a software feature that allows theman-in-the-loop to change the capability of a munition from requiring action byan operator prior to being detonated, to a munition that will be detonated by atarget. The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Service Chiefs, usingbest military judgment, feel that the man-in-the-loop system without thisfeature would be insufficient to meet tactical operational conditions andelectronic countermeasures.”32

A decision whether to produceSpider will be taken in December 2005 and the first units are scheduled to beproduced in March 2007. The U.S. Army spent $135 million between fiscal years1999 and 2004 to develop Spider and another $11 million has been requested tocomplete research and development. A total of $390 million is budgeted toproduce 1,620 Spider systems and 186,300 munitions.33Textron Systems Corporation in Wilmington, Massachusetts and AlliantTechsystems in Plymouth, Minnesota are jointly developing Spider. Day andZimmerman in Parsons, Kansas and General Dynamics in Taunton, Massachusetts areprimary subcontractors.

Intelligent Munitions System

The Intelligent MunitionsSystem (IMS) is a new program combining three landmine alternativesprograms—the Self Healing Minefield, Mixed Systems Alternative, andAntipersonnel Landmine-Alternative (APL-A) programs—into one research anddevelopment program.34 A total of $172million of research and development funding was spent on those three programsbetween fiscal years 1999 and 2004.

A total of $1.3 billion hasbeen requested for IMS development and production activities between fiscalyears 2005 and 2011. IMS prototypes are being developed by General DynamicsAdvanced Information Systems in Bloomington, Minnesota and Textron SystemsCorporation in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The decision to produce IMS isscheduled to be taken in 2008 and the first units produced in 2009.

According to budgetdocumentation, the IMS is “an integrated system of effects (lethal, non-lethal,anti-vehicle, anti-personnel, demolitions), software, sensors/seekers, andcommunications that may be emplaced by multiple means and is capable of unattendedemployment for the detection, classification, identification, tracking andengagement of selected targets.” The Pentagon further states, “IMS utilizessensors linked to effects and is controlled over robust communications ineither an autonomous mode or via Man-in-the-Loop control.”35

The terms “unattendedemployment” and “autonomous mode” appear to be synonymous withvictim-activation, and like Spider, would make this system incompatible withthe Mine Ban Treaty. Languagecontained in the conference report accompanying the fiscal year 2003 defenseappropriations bill attempts to rectify this: “The conferees direct that theArmy clearly define the requirements for a next generation intelligentminefield and ensure compliance with the Ottawa Convention, and report back tothe House and Senate Appropriations Committees with detailed plans for such asystem.”36

Volcano Antivehicle Mines

A total of 191,000 M87A1Volcano antivehicle mines were produced in the United States between 1996 and2004. An additional 2,000 canisters, each containing six antivehicle mines,are currently being produced atthe Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant in Texarkana, Texas, which is agovernment-owned facility operated by the Day and Zimmerman Company.37

The M87A1 Volcano was orderedby the United Kingdom in 1996, with a contract value exceeding $100 million,and it entered service with the Royal Engineers in 2001 as the L35A1 Shielder.38In April 2002, the U.S. State Department notified Congress of a pending directcommercial sale of M87A1 Volcano systems to Israel under a contract valued at$50 million or more.39

Previously, Volcano wasproduced only as a mixed system with both antipersonnel and antivehicle minespackaged together. This antivehicle mine-only version was part of thePentagon's response to the one-year antipersonnel landmine use moratoriumscheduled to take effect in February 1999, but which was subsequentlynullified. The program also involved upgrades for the system such asmodifications to the safe and arm mechanism and the dispenser control unit.This was an example of the U.S. quickly developing, producing, and evenexporting an alternative to an existing system containing antipersonnel mines.

Claymore Mines

Claymore-type mines, alsoknown as directional fragmentation munitions, are among the most common minesin the world. The United States first produced Claymore mines in 1960 and hassince produced 7.8 million of them for a cost of $122 million.40When used in command-detonated mode, Claymores are permissible under the MineBan Treaty. When used in victim-activated mode, usually with a tripwire, theyare prohibited.

As noted above, the Matrixsystem uses Claymore mines command-detonated by radio signal, but it is unknownif a victim-activated option is also available. Moreover, the current U.S. policy regarding use of Claymores with tripwires is unclear. Under Clintonadministration policy, and according to existing Army field manuals, use of Claymoreswith tripwires is restricted to Korea. But, Pentagon and State Departmentofficials have not responded to Human Rights Watch’s questions as to whetherthis continues to be the case under the new landmine policy.

In February 2004, thePentagon requested $20.2 million to produce 40,000 M18A1E1 Claymore mines.Mohawk Electrical Systems, Inc (Milford, Delaware) is scheduled to produce themunitions between June 2005 and March 2006.41The M18A1E1 will incorporate a new triggering system that does not rely oneither the victim-activated mechanical tripwire fuze or the command-detonatedelectrical initiation provided with the M18A1. Instead, the Claymores will becommanddetonated by a new generation of modernized demolitioninitiators that use explosives to trigger the mine.42