The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) recently announced £1 million contract award to Alford Technologies Ltd to procure GLADIUS User-Filled Off-Route Mines reinforces the increased importance that these specialty anti-armour weapons have taken on in the battlefield.
Unlike more traditional ground laid anti-tank mines off-route mines like the GLADIUS and PARM (Shown) are able to not only cover a much larger area but are equally effective used in the defense and offense. Not only that but they are able using applied technologies to actually be selective of the targets that they are intended to destroy. They are also economical with a single off-route mine able to be emplaced in minutes by a single soldier to cover a 60 to 100 meter area that would require tens or hundreds of mines installed by a group taking hours.
This fielding of GLADIUS is a reintroduction of this anti-tank mine capability by the British Army. It is viewed as a critical measure to its ability to both deny mobility to an opponent and to effect offensive ambush and sabotage operations. The weapon is already in use by eleven NATO armies, allows the user to customize the explosive charge effect, can be remotely detonated, and is directional. GLADIUS is provided by Alford Technologies Ltd, based in Newcastle upon Tyne which is both the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and intellectual property owner of the system.
The GLADIUS system is one of several which are being offered and have been receiving attention by militaries which include the MBDA PARM, the Russian PTKM-1R and ACETAM.
The PARM NexGen, first shown by TDW at EUROSATORY 24, is the successor to the earlier PSRM DM22 which was provided and successfully used in large numbers by the Ukraine. The new system’s sensor that can distinguish the range to the target and can be remote-controlled by encrypted radio signals. The controller can be used with up to three weapons. It has a range of 60 meters with a 128 mm shaped-charge warhead capable of penetrating 60mm of rolled homogeneous armour.
The ACETAM draws from the LAW80 on a tripod with a sensor package. The acoustic sensor detects the target activating a passive infra-red sensor that triggers the weapon when the target passes. The Tandem-Shaped-Charge (TSC) HEAT warhead’s Explosively-Formed-Jet will penetrate the side of armoured vehicles and MBTs.
The Russian PTKM-1R (ПТКМ-1Р) has been observed in the Ukraine in 2022. This mine has acoustic sensors to detect a target and then projects a top-attack shaped-charge (SC) projectile when the target comes into range. It is deployed in a vertical position and can sense and attack in a 360-degree radius.
The large-scale reintroduction and fielding of GLADIUS and PARM, as well as the development of more sophisticated off-route mines reinforces their effectiveness and both cost and operational efficiency in meeting the mobility denial needs of ground forces in both the defense and attack.
by Stephen W. Miller
