Editing Land mine (section)

==Warfare==
[[File:mine sweep.jpg|thumb|A U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician removing the [[fuze]] from a Russian-made mine to clear a minefield outside of Fallujah, Iraq]]
[[File:Falklands-Minefield.JPG|thumb|Minefield laid by Argentinian forces in Port William, Falkland Islands in [[Falklands War|1982]]. Demining was inhibited by the boggy terrain]]

Land mines were designed for two main uses:
* To create defensive tactical barriers, channelling attacking forces into predetermined fire zones or slowing an invading force's progress to allow reinforcements to arrive.
* To act as passive [[area-denial|area denial]] weapons (to deny the enemy use of valuable terrain, resources or facilities when active defense of the area is not desirable or possible).

Land mines are currently used in large quantities mostly for this first purpose, thus their widespread use in the [[demilitarized zone]]s (DMZs) of likely flashpoints such as [[Cyprus]], [[Afghanistan]] and Korea. Syria has used land mines in [[Syrian civil war|its civil war]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2013/07/13/politically-explosive |title=Landmines in Myanmar: Politically explosive |date=July 13, 2013 |newspaper=The Economist |access-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802231227/https://www.economist.com/asia/2013/07/13/politically-explosive |url-status=live }}</ref> Since 2021, land mine use has risen in [[Myanmar]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-19 |title='I just want my legs back': Myanmar landmine casualties soar |url=https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-government-china-0451f807790016c8e46114bb01441fe4 |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> during its [[Internal conflict in Burma|internal conflict]]. As of 2023, both Russia and Ukraine have deployed land mines.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-07-22 |title=Ukraine is now the most mined country. It will take decades to make safe. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/22/ukraine-is-now-most-mined-country-it-will-take-decades-make-safe/ |access-date=2023-10-27 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en}}</ref>

In [[military science]], minefields are considered a defensive or harassing weapon, used to slow the enemy down, to deny certain terrain to the enemy, to focus enemy movement into [[kill zone]]s, or to reduce [[morale]] by randomly attacking materiel and personnel. In some engagements during World War II, anti-tank mines accounted for half of all vehicles disabled.

Since [[combat engineer]]s with mine-clearing equipment can clear a path through a minefield relatively quickly, mines are usually considered effective only if covered by fire.

The extents of minefields are often marked with warning signs and cloth tape, to prevent friendly troops and non-combatants from entering them. Of course, sometimes terrain can be denied using dummy minefields. Most forces carefully record the location and disposition of their own minefields, because warning signs can be destroyed or removed, and minefields should eventually be cleared. Minefields may also have marked or unmarked safe routes to allow friendly movement through them.

Placing minefields without marking and recording them for later removal is considered a [[war crime]] under Protocol II of the [[Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons]], which is itself an annex to the [[Geneva Conventions]].

Artillery and aircraft-scatterable mines allow minefields to be placed in front of moving formations of enemy units, including the reinforcement of minefields or other obstacles that have been breached by enemy engineers. They can also be used to cover the retreat of forces disengaging from the enemy, or for interdiction of supporting units to isolate front line units from resupply. In most cases these minefields consist of a combination of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, with the anti-personnel mines making removal of the anti-tank mines more difficult. Mines of this type used by the United States are{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} designed to self-destruct after a preset period of time, reducing the requirement for mine clearing to only those mines whose self-destruct system did not function. Some designs of these scatterable mines require an electrical charge (capacitor or battery) to detonate. After a certain period of time, either the charge dissipates, leaving them effectively inert or the circuitry is designed such that upon reaching a low level, the device is triggered, destroying the mine.

===Guerrilla warfare===
None of the conventional tactics and norms of mine warfare applies when they are employed in a guerrilla role:{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
* The mines are not used in defensive roles (for specific position or area).
* Mined areas are not marked.
* Mines are usually placed singly and not in groups covering an area.
* Mines are often left unattended (not covered by fire).

Land mines were commonly deployed by insurgents during the [[South African Border War]], leading directly to the development of the first dedicated [[MRAP|mine-protected armoured vehicles]] in South Africa.<ref name=SurviveRide>{{cite book |last1=Camp |first1=Steve |last2=Helmoed-Römer |first2=Heitman |title=Surviving the Ride: A pictorial history of South African Manufactured Mine-Protected vehicles |date=November 2014 |pages=19–34 |publisher=30 Degrees South |location=Pinetown |isbn=978-1-928211-17-4}}</ref> Namibian insurgents used anti-tank mines to throw South African military convoys into disarray before attacking them.<ref name=SurviveRide /> To discourage detection and removal efforts, they also laid anti-personnel mines directly parallel to the anti-tank mines.<ref name="Mines1">{{cite web |title=Namibia |url=http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/namibia.html |website=Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor |access-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803113024/http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm%2F2004%2Fnamibia.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This initially resulted in heavy South African military and police casualties, as the vast distances of road network vulnerable to insurgent [[sapper]]s every day made comprehensive detection and clearance efforts impractical.<ref name=SurviveRide /> The only other viable option was the adoption of mine-protected vehicles which could remain mobile on the roads with little risk to their passengers even if a mine was detonated.<ref name=SurviveRide /> South Africa is widely credited with inventing the [[v-hull]], a vee-shaped hull for armoured vehicles which deflects mine blasts away from the passenger compartment.<ref name=SurviveRide />

During the ongoing [[Syrian Civil War]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/new-landmine-emergency-threatens-communities-iraq-and-syria|title=New landmine emergency threatens communities in Iraq and Syria|author=Mines Advisory Group|date=January 11, 2017|website=reliefweb.int|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011152309/https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/new-landmine-emergency-threatens-communities-iraq-and-syria|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21719830-clearing-syria-and-iraq-unexploded-bombs-and-booby-traps-could-take|title=Islamic State is losing land but leaving mines behind|date=March 30, 2017|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=March 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307161459/https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21719830-clearing-syria-and-iraq-unexploded-bombs-and-booby-traps-could-take|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/treacherous-battle-free-iraq-landmines-150209103531036.html|title=The treacherous battle to free Iraq of landmines|last1=Cousins|first1=Sophie|date=February 20, 2015|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011201525/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/treacherous-battle-free-iraq-landmines-150209103531036.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/20/yemen-houthi-saleh-forces-using-landmines|title=Yemen: Houthi-Saleh Forces Using Landmines|date=April 20, 2017|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=March 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322202754/https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/20/yemen-houthi-saleh-forces-using-landmines|url-status=live}}</ref> land mines have been used for both defensive and guerrilla purposes.

===Laying mines===
[[File:Minefield warning.JPG|thumb|Minefield warning on the [[Golan Heights]], still valid more than 40 years after creation of the field by the Syrian army]]

Minefields may be laid by several means. The preferred, but most labour-intensive, way is to have engineers bury the mines, since this will make the mines practically invisible and reduce the number of mines needed to deny the enemy an area. Mines can be laid by specialized mine-laying vehicles. Mine-scattering shells may be fired by [[artillery]] from a distance of several tens of kilometers.

Mines may be dropped from [[helicopter]]s or airplanes, or ejected from [[cluster bomb]]s or [[cruise missile]]s.

Anti-tank minefields can be scattered with anti-personnel mines to make clearing them manually more time-consuming; and anti-personnel minefields are scattered with anti-tank mines to prevent the use of armored vehicles to clear them quickly. Some anti-tank mine types are also able to be triggered by infantry, giving them a dual purpose even though their main and official intention is to work as anti-tank weapons.

Some minefields are specifically [[booby-trap]]ped to make clearing them more dangerous. Mixed anti-personnel and anti-tank minefields, anti-personnel mines ''under'' anti-tank mines, and fuses separated from mines have all been used for this purpose. Often, single mines are backed by a secondary device, designed to kill or maim personnel tasked with clearing the mine.

Multiple anti-tank mines have been buried in stacks of two or three with the bottom mine fuzed, to multiply the penetrating power. Since the mines are buried, the ground directs the energy of the blast in a single direction—through the bottom of the target vehicle or on the track.

Another specific use is to mine an aircraft runway immediately after it has been bombed to delay or discourage repair. Some cluster bombs combine these functions. One example was the British [[JP233]] cluster bomb which includes munitions to damage (crater) the runway as well as anti-personnel mines in the same cluster bomb. As a result of the anti-personnel mine ban it was withdrawn from British Royal Air Force service, and the last stockpiles of the mine were destroyed on October 19, 1999.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmhansrd/vo991025/text/91025w12.htm#91025w12.htm_sbhd4 | title=House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 25 Oct 1999 (pt 12) | access-date=January 22, 2019 | archive-date=December 13, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213172148/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmhansrd/vo991025/text/91025w12.htm#91025w12.htm_sbhd4 | url-status=live }}</ref>