Breaking News: What are the Three US Land Mine Systems ADAM MOPMS and Volcano for Ukraine?.

On December 2, 2024, The New York Times reported that the United States is set to provide Ukraine with a new batch of advanced land mine-laying systems. As part of its latest military aid package to Ukraine, the United States will provide three land mine systems designed to enhance Ukraine’s ability to secure critical terrain and impede enemy movement.
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The ADAM 155mm (Area Denial Artillery Munition) is a precision-guided artillery shell designed to deploy anti-personnel mines over a wide area, creating rapid minefields for area denial. (Picture source: US RDECOM)

These land mine systems include the M692/M731 Area Denial Artillery Munition (ADAM), the M131 Modular Pack Mine System (MOPMS), and the M136 Volcano mine-laying system. Each of these remotely delivered or manually deployed technologies offers unique capabilities: the ADAM delivers a rapid minefield using 155mm artillery, the MOPMS is a flexible, portable system for infantry use, and the Volcano is a vehicle-mounted dispenser capable of laying large-scale minefields over vast areas. Together, these systems will give Ukraine a powerful toolkit to fortify its defenses and slow the advance of Russian forces.

1. M692/M731 ADAM: 155mm Area Denial Munition

The M692/M731 ADAM is a 155mm artillery shell designed to deploy anti-personnel mines quickly across a broad area. This system, part of the U.S. Army's "Family of Scatterable Mines" (FASCAM), was developed during the 1980s to enhance battlefield control by creating instant minefields. Each artillery round fired from a Howitzer delivers 36 mines, which are equipped with self-destruct features to minimize long-term risks to civilians. These mines either deactivate or self-destruct after a pre-determined period—typically 4 to 48 hours—ensuring that they do not pose a persistent threat once hostilities have subsided.

Tripwires activate the mines in the ADAM system and feature a spherical warhead designed to create deadly shrapnel patterns. Upon activation, the warhead is launched to a height of 1 to 2 meters and detonates, releasing approximately 600 fragments that can incapacitate or kill enemy personnel within a wide radius. This self-sanitizing feature significantly reduces the risk of unexploded ordnance, addressing ongoing humanitarian concerns related to land mines.

A U.S. Army combat engineer squad from A Company, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division unloads M131 Modular Pack Mine Systems for emplacement during the company’s sapper stakes competition at Fort Bragg. (Picture source: U.S. DoD)

2. M131 MOPMS: Modular Pack Mine System

The M131 Modular Pack Mine System (MOPMS) is a portable and flexible mine-laying system designed for rapid deployment by infantry or engineer units. It is primarily used for creating both anti-personnel and anti-vehicle minefields in various tactical scenarios. The system consists of modular packs, each containing a set of mines and components necessary for deployment. These packs are lightweight, typically weighing between 13 to 18 kg (30 to 40 pounds), allowing soldiers to carry and place them in the desired locations easily.

MOPMS can deploy multiple types of mines, including M14 anti-personnel mines and M16 anti-tank mines. The mines can be configured to detonate either upon impact or after a set delay, providing tactical flexibility. The impact-triggered mines are designed to activate when a vehicle or personnel come into contact with them, while the timed mines can be set to explode after a specified delay, allowing troops to control the exact timing of the detonation. This feature enables military forces to adapt the minefield to the specific needs of the battlefield, such as blocking enemy movement, securing routes, or defending key positions.

One of the key features of the MOPMS is that the mines it deploys are self-neutralizing. This means they either self-destruct or deactivate after a set period, which reduces the risk of unexploded ordnance harming civilians or friendly forces after the conflict. This self-destruct feature is an essential part of the system, addressing humanitarian concerns related to landmines in post-conflict zones.

The system’s modular design also allows for flexibility in how it is deployed. Infantry units can manually place the mine packs in various configurations depending on the operational needs of the moment. Whether laying a minefield in dense forests, urban environments, or along critical choke points like roads or bridges, the MOPMS offers versatility in minefield creation. Furthermore, the system is compatible with military vehicles, enabling quicker deployment during larger operations.

A U.S. Army vehicle-mounted M136 Volcano mine dispenser rapidly deploys a wide-area minefield, creating an effective barrier to block enemy movement. The system ejects mine canisters containing anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, dispersing them across a large area to deny access to critical routes and infrastructure. (Picture source U.S. DoD)

3. M136 Volcano: Vehicle-Mounted Mine Dispenser

The M136 Volcano is a highly effective, vehicle-mounted mine-laying system designed to rapidly deploy anti-personnel and anti-tank mines across large areas. It is commonly mounted on various military vehicles, such as armored personnel carriers, engineering vehicles, and trucks, providing flexibility in deployment across different operational environments. The Volcano system uses M87 mine canisters, which hold up to six mines each. Depending on the configuration of the vehicle, the system can carry up to 24 canisters, allowing it to deploy a significant number of mines in a very short time.

Once activated, the Volcano system rapidly disperses the mines in a predetermined pattern over a wide area, usually between 30 to 60 meters from the vehicle. This wide dispersion helps create a dense minefield that can block or disrupt enemy movement. The mines deployed by the Volcano include M14 anti-personnel mines and M15 anti-tank mines, both of which are designed to deny access to key areas, such as roads, fields, and critical infrastructure like bridges or supply routes.

A critical feature of the Volcano system is its ability to set self-destruct or self-neutralizing functions for the mines. Each mine is equipped with a timer, ensuring that it either self-deactivates or self-destructs after a certain period—typically ranging from a few hours to several days—minimizing the risk of unexploded ordnance. This self-sanitizing feature significantly reduces long-term hazards to civilians or friendly forces once the immediate military need has passed.

The system can be deployed from both ground and air platforms. While most commonly mounted on vehicles, it can also be delivered via helicopters, giving military commanders the flexibility to deploy minefields in a variety of terrains and scenarios. The Volcano can lay a minefield in just a few minutes, making it a highly efficient tool for creating instant area denial during combat operations.

Tactically, the Volcano system is particularly valuable for halting enemy advances, especially in high-traffic areas like roads or chokepoints. The dense minefields it creates can slow down or halt both enemy infantry and armored vehicles, allowing friendly forces to secure key positions or gain a tactical advantage. Furthermore, its rapid deployment and large mine-laying capacity make it a force multiplier for armored or mechanized units operating in concert with engineers.

The provision of these mine-laying systems provides Ukraine with a broad range of options to disrupt and delay Russian forces. The ability to deploy mines remotely—either via artillery, vehicle, or infantry—gives Ukrainian forces flexibility in controlling and denying key terrain. These mine systems will be especially valuable in slowing Russian advances, protecting key infrastructure such as bridges and supply routes, and securing defensive positions. The U.S. has also ensured that these systems are "non-persistent," meaning that the mines will self-neutralize or self-destruct after a short time, reducing the risks to civilians after the mines' operational use.

For Ukrainian commanders, the new systems significantly enhance their battlefield capabilities. The ADAM system provides rapid mine deployment over a large area, while the MOPMS and Volcano systems allow for more tactical, localized minefields. Together, these tools will help Ukraine to delay, disrupt, and inflict casualties on Russian forces, providing a force-multiplying effect on the battlefield.

The addition of the ADAM, MOPMS, and Volcano mine-laying systems to Ukraine’s arsenal represents a strategic enhancement to its defensive capabilities. By providing both rapid, artillery-based and manual mine-laying solutions, the United States is enabling Ukraine to create powerful, flexible minefields that will impede enemy movements and protect vital positions. With these systems, Ukraine gains an important advantage in the ongoing conflict, ensuring that it can better control its territory and slow the advance of Russian forces while minimizing long-term humanitarian risks.