M19 mine

An inert M19 anti-tank mine. The arming switch is set to "S" (i.e. safe) so the fuze is not armed. A secondary fuze well (with the cap removed) is visible on the side of the mine
An Israeli soldier with an M19 anti-tank mine near the Jordanian border in 1982.

The M19 is a large square plastic cased United States anti-tank blast mine. Intended to replace the M15 mine, the design dates from the mid-1960s and contains only two metal components: the copper detonator capsule and a stainless steel firing pin which weighs 2.86 grams. It is a minimum metal mine, which makes it very difficult to detect after it has been emplaced. This mine is produced under licence in Chile, South Korea and Turkey. A copy is produced in Iran. It is found in Afghanistan, Angola, Chad, Chile, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, South Korea, Lebanon, the Western Sahara, and Zambia.

U.S. stocks of the mine were approximately 74,000 before the 1990 Gulf War and had fallen to 63,000 by 2002.[1]

An inert version of the mine intended for training purposes (called the M80) is also produced.

  1. ^ http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d021003.pdf [bare URL PDF]