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- War in Ukraine
Ukraine’s New US Weapons That Strike Russian Troops from Below
The US is providing Ukraine with three types of landmine systems. The ADAM munition, Modular Pack, and Volcano, all aim to slow and block advancing Russian troops. What are they and what can they do?
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ADAM 155-mm | Area Denial Artillery Munition | 36 anti-personnel landmines | |
M131 MOPMS | Modular Pack Mine System | 4 M77 anti-personnel mines | 17 M78 anti-tank mines |
M136 Volcano | Mine System | 1 anti-personnel mine | 5 anti-tank mines |
The ADAM munition
The new ADAM 155-mm (Area Denial Artillery Munition) has been delivered to Ukraine and is already being used by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade according to Defense Express, military analyst experts.
The ADAM is designed to scatter 36 anti-personnel landmines over a targeted area. It is “non-persistent,” meaning that the mines self-destruct or lose battery charge, becoming inactive, vastly mitigating the risk to civilians. Ukrainian officials have committed to not deploying anti-personnel mines in densely populated areas.
The ADAM munition self-destructs at different durations, which is ideal for rapidly changing battlefields. It effectively creates temporary minefields to slow or block advancing Russian forces and large-scale Russian troop advancements. The short-destruct M692 variant has a 4-hour self-destruct, and the long-destruct M731 variant has a 48-hour self-destruct.
🇺🇸🇺🇦 M692 ADAM antipersonnel mine dispensing artillery projectile in Ukrainian service. https://t.co/KEZw7MclWV pic.twitter.com/4BDKbPwaCB
— Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (@ColbyBadhwar) January 25, 2025
When fired from a US M109 self-propelled artillery system the ADAM has a range of around 17.6 km. The maximum dispersion distance of anti-personnel mines is 600m and the effective damage radius of an individual submunition is 7m, according to Defense Express. Once dispersed, the ADAM launches tripwires which, when disturbed, detonate the mine.
The mine itself has a ball-shaped warhead containing liquid propellant. The liquid's gravity settles in the correct position, meaning that when detonated, the warhead is always launched upward, regardless of the mine's orientation.
In addition to the ADAM, the US is reportedly delivering MOPMS (Modular Pack Mine System), and the M136 Volcano mining system to Ukraine.
Modular Pack Mine System
The M131 MOPMS is a portable system and has a total of 21 mines, which are also non-persistant with a standard setting of 4 hours self-destruct. 17 M78 anti-tank mines with a magnetic target sensor that hit armored vehicles from the bottom and 4 M77 anti-personnel fragmentation mines. According to Defense Express, the M77 and M78 are defined as submunitions rather than mines.
The MOPMS is deployed and placed by hand, vehicle, or remote system, and detonated by wire or radio with a firing range of 35m.
It was first in service with the US Army in the 1980s, and first used during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
Volcano Mine System
The M136 Volcano also contains 1 anti-personnel and 5 anti-tank mines, fired from large containers which can be based on ground-based vehicles, and airborne vehicles such as helicopters. The anti-personnel mine has a circular explosive range of 12m triggered by a trip wire or its seismic sensor, which means it detonates in reaction to ground movement like human steps of up to 3 to 4 meters away. Its anti-tank mine has a magnetic sensor, like the volcano mine targeting vehicles from underneath. The Volcano is also non-persistent, self-destructing between 4 to 48 hours or up to 15 days when battery life is automatically ceased.
The Volcano has a variety of different deployment capabilities. A helicopter can deploy up to 960 mines per flight, according to Defense Express. Its portable version can fit into a backpack, which may be more suitable for deployment due to Russian artillery threats against Ukrainian air vehicles.
The US has already supplied Ukraine with the anti-tank counterpart to ADAMs, the Remote Anti-Armor Mine System (RAAM) projectiles, which disperse anti-tank mines in a similar way. In August 2024, Ukraine received more than 60,000 rounds of the RAAM projectiles.
In May 2024, a video highlights how Ukraine's 40th Separate Artillery Brigade thwarted a Russian tank and infantry fighting vehicle’s (IFV) attempt at advancing with the RAAM projectiles.
In March 2023, the UK’s Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces had faced “heavy losses” in Vuhledar due to Ukraine’s successful adoption of RAAM projectiles. Ukraine’s forces fired RAAM “over and behind advancing Russian units, causing disarray when Russian vehicles attempted to withdraw.”
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