Ukraine’s New Electromagnetic System Makes Mines Detonate Before Armored Vehicles Reach Them

Ukraine has developed and begun deploying an electromagnetic mine-clearing system designed to trigger mines with magnetic fuzes before armored vehicles reach them.

According to Militarnyi on September 29, the Ukrainian-made system, called PIDRYV, generates a controlled magnetic field ahead of a vehicle and can activate magnetically triggered mines from a distance of up to seven meters.

The system has been tested on armored vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles, and mine-clearing platforms. Militarnyi reported that PIDRYV systems have already been supplied to three brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for combat use and have been codified within the NATO system.

Unlike conventional pressure mines, magnetic mines do not require a wheel or track to physically pass over them. Their fuzes can detect changes in the surrounding magnetic field caused by an approaching vehicle.

PIDRYV is intended to reproduce that magnetic signature ahead of the vehicle. If the system activates a mine, the detonation is expected to occur several meters in front of the platform rather than directly beneath it.

According to the Ukrainian manufacturer cited by Militarnyi, approximately 30% to 40% of mines used in remote mining operations are equipped with magnetic initiators.

The system operates while the vehicle is moving, meaning crews do not need to stop while attempting to activate magnetic fuzes along their route.

Images published by Militarnyi show PIDRYV installed on a Ukrainian-operated International MaxxPro armored vehicle and an unmanned ground vehicle. The system has also undergone testing on a dedicated mine-clearing vehicle.

Electromagnetic mine-clearing technology predates Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Soviet Union began developing a comparable system, known as Paishchik, in the early 1970s and adopted it in 1985.

That system used two electromagnets mounted on a mine-clearing frame to generate a magnetic field capable of activating mines roughly four to six meters ahead of a tank. Rather than functioning as an independent mine plow, it supplemented existing mechanical mine-clearing equipment with protection against magnetically triggered mines.

Earlier, Ukraine approved the domestically developed NEO-1 ground robot for deployment, a remote-controlled system designed to detect mines and unexploded ordnance while also carrying supplies for frontline units.

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