PROM-1
| PROM-1 | |
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| General Information | |
| Designation: | PROM-1 |
| Type: | Anti-personnel mine |
| Country of origin: | Yugoslavia |
| Manufacturer: | Yugoimport SDPR |
| Development: | 1959-1962 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Combat weight: | 3 kilograms |
| Charge: | 425 grams of TNT / RDX |
| Diameter: | 75 millimeters |
| Height: | 260 millimeters without detonator, 271 millimeters with detonator |
| Detonator: | Push-pull detonator triggered by tripwire or occurrence |
| Lists on the subject | |
The PROM-1 ( P rotupješačka R asprskavajuća O dskočna M ina-1; in German for example: anti-personnel fragmentation mine-1) is a jumping mine that was produced in former Yugoslavia and used during the Yugoslav wars.
description
The mine has a green, cylindrical steel body with a smooth outer skin and is similar in shape and size to a beer bottle. The screwed-in push-pull igniter protrudes in the center above, its four protruding steel pins form the pressure surface. The standard igniter is the UPROM-1, in minor cases also the UPMR-3 of the PMR-3 .
function
It has a detonator on the top that triggers as soon as the rod with steel pins is tipped in any direction by pulling on the tripwire of approx. 3 kg or is pressed in from above by pressure of approx. 9 kg. As a result, the safety balls in the detonator fall into prepared openings, releasing a preloaded firing pin that strikes a detonator and ignites a propellant charge that tears the top of the mine off the base plate and throws it into the air. Both parts remain connected by an approx. 50 cm long cable that pulls taut as soon as the mine has flown high enough (70 to 80 cm). The cable pulls a detonator into a solid detonating needle, detonating the main explosive charge.
The explosion and splinters of the mine work within a radius of 360 ° and up to a distance of about 100 meters. The radius of 22 meters around the mine is considered to be absolutely fatal, the radius of up to 50 meters as life-threatening.
Eviction and Incidents
The PROM-1 is considered to be the most dangerous mine in the former Yugoslavia and is responsible for around 80% of all fatal mine accidents since the end of the war. Fatal incidents occur almost annually in the area of former lines of confrontation and positions. On April 10, 2000 , three children playing were killed by the explosion of a PROM-1 on Mount Debelo Brdo , on the southern outskirts of Sarajevo . It was the single mine accident with the highest casualties since the end of the war.
Even years to decades after the end of the war, the mine still poses a considerable danger to the civilian population and ordnance clearance teams in the former Yugoslavia. The already sensitive detonator can become even more dangerous due to the weather, and the trigger wires have now grown into the vegetation and can hardly be localized. Often several PROM-1s were connected to one another by release wires in order to achieve the highest possible locking effect. In 2008, six mine clearers died while attempting to defuse them in Bosnia alone, and three others were critically injured.
Due to their dangerousness, these mines are mostly blown up without contact for safety reasons. If this is not possible, the neck of the detonator is fixed by a safety collar and unscrewed from the mine when defusing it manually. Existing trigger wires can be cut after securing the igniter.
Since the majority of the mine is made of steel, it can be easily detected by metal detectors. Due to the danger of trigger wires, the use of mine sweeper dogs is too dangerous; on April 23, 1998 near Ljubinje (Bosnia) a search dog and the dog handler were killed by the explosion of a PROM-1 triggered by the dog, and two other deminers suffered serious injuries. The area to be searched with metal detectors is therefore checked beforehand with tripwire sensors.
Movies
In the film No Man's Land , the function of the PROM-1 is explained by a Serbian soldier.
In Enemy Lines - alone against all a minefield of PROM-1 is triggered.
