Scorpion mine throwing system

"Scorpion" mine throwing system
Mine throwing system Skorpion 2. / PiBtl 722
General properties
crew	2 (driver, commander)
length	5.87 m
width	2.68 m in loading or transport position or 2.87 in throwing position
height	3.32 m
Dimensions	9.12 tons (empty weight)
Armor and armament
Armor	unarmored
Main armament	6 mine throwing units with 600 anti-tank mines
Secondary armament	MG3 7.62 × 51 mm
agility
drive	water-cooled six-cylinder two-stroke diesel engine with direct injection 210 PS (154 kW)
suspension	Torsion bar
Top speed	40 km / h (road)
Power / weight	23.02 hp / t
Range	approx. 500 km

The Skorpion mine-throwing system was a mine-laying tank for the Bundeswehr .

development

In 1981/82, the German Armed Forces procured 300 base vehicles of the type M 548 A1 G manufactured in the USA, which are based on the chassis of the M113 . Until the construction of the mine throwing system and the subsequent introduction to the tank engineer companies and engineer battalions, these were used as transport tanks. The following companies were involved in the development:

• Krauss-Maffei Wehrtechnik GmbH (mine throwing system, final assembly and system check)
• Eisenwerke Kaiserslautern GmbH (manufactured the platform for the mine throwing system)
• Wegmann & Co. GmbH (manufactured parts of the mine throwing system)

General

The AT2 anti-tank missile mine was manufactured by Dynamit Nobel GmbH in Troisdorf . The main components of the Scorpio are the carrier vehicle M548 A1 G, based on the chassis of the M113 and the mine throwing system with mine magazines and the EPAG (setting, testing and firing device). Each of the six mine throwing units could hold 5 magazines of 20 mines each. The total number was 600 mines.

In one laying pass, the mine-throwing system was able to lay a mine barrier 1,500 meters long and around 50 meters wide in five minutes. The maximum length of the mine strip was 3,000 meters. The EPAG could be used to program the working time, mine density, discharge side and discharge type. The mine was ejected by means of a propellant charge. The mine action time could be set from 3 to 96 hours, after a maximum of 96 hours the mine self -destructed . The deployment took place within the framework of mine throwing teams to two vehicles and in combination with other weapon systems (e.g. battle tanks ), which secured the relocation.

The tank pioneer companies of the combat brigades had four units, the engineer battalions twelve units, which resulted in 68 active units in the 2010 Army structure .

As part of the realignment of the Bundeswehr in 2011, all remaining systems were eliminated.

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  Scorpion mine throwing system

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  Magazine of a mine throwing unit

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  Anti-tank mine AT 2

Web links

Commons : Scorpion Mine Thrower  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Scorpion mine thrower in the German Army
• panzer-modell.de Pictures of the scorpion
• Classix: The New Army Mine Thrower (1988) - Bundeswehr on YouTube (Published on: November 27, 2015; Length: ≈ 5:39 min. )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ bits.de German landmines - an inventory , Otfried Nassauer and Thomas Küchenmeister quote: “The AT-2 mine has a lift guard that makes it explode when an attempt is made to evacuate it. The lead is optionally sharpened after 15 seconds or up to five minutes after ejection. It can be set to six different working times of 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96 hours (Freytag, Kaltenbach, 1991, p. 54). After the active time has expired, it destroys itself by detonation, so it has a self-destruct mechanism (Matourek, 1983b, p. 292 f.). "
2. ↑ Army inspector expects ten years of development work: eyes straight ahead. Retrieved May 6, 2019 . 
3. ^ Weingarten, Wilke, Wulf: Perspectives of the defense technology industry in Germany. (PDF): ISBN 978-3-86593-213-6 . Leibniz Information Center for Economics, accessed on June 5, 2019 . 
4. ↑ R-export full text of the Armaments Export Report 2000. Retrieved on May 14, 2019 .