Army to procure automated system for rapid laying of minefields during operations

The Indian Army has sought an automated vehicle-based system that would enable its combat engineers to rapidly lay minefields during operations to delay or check enemy advances.

Referred to as the Vehicle Based Mine Scattering System (VBMSS), it will be used to deploy both anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. The Army has projected a requirement for 70 such systems, according to a Request for Information (RFI) issued by the Ministry of Defence on December 20.

“During operations, minimum mines are envisaged to be laid ab initio and majority of the mines will be laid as responsive/reactive minefields once enemy build up/thrust line is discerned,” the RFI states.

“Hence there is a need to induct VBMSS in the Indian Army which should give the capability of dispensing mines in the shortest possible time so that it is not only economical in resources but also upsets the enemy’s time schedule and forces him to redeploy,” the RFI adds.

Its timely use can surprise the enemy, unhinge him and be an effective force multiplier by dispensing mines at a faster rate with reasonable accuracy. The system will be employed by engineer units for rapidly laying minefields in a constrained time frame to cater for enemy build-up and disrupt enemy thrust lines.

Minefields are also laid as a defensive measure along vulnerable border stretches during peacetime or before the commencement of actual hostilities in anticipation of possible enemy movements. During Operation Parakram in 2001, the Army had laid thousands of mines along the India-Pakistan border.

The VBMSS will comprise of an independently powered mine dispensing sub-system mounted on a high mobility vehicle that would give it cross country capability in plains, desert and semi-desert terrain, with the ability to carry out operations in temperatures ranging from minus 20 degree Celsius to 45 degree Celsius.

The Army requires the system to capable of dispensing 600 or more anti-tank and anti-personnel mines without replenishment while moving at a speed of 10 kmph. It should be able to lay mines on each side of the vehicle at a distance of 20m to 150m and also have the provision to be rapidly reloaded.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation has also developed an indigenous mine laying system called the Self Propelled Mine Burier, which can carry around 480 mines and can bury 240 mines in an hour using a mechanism installed at the stern of the vehicle.