How many years can uncleared mines work in the soil at most?

Let's talk about mines. Landmines are widely used weapons, which are deeply loved by armies of various countries because of their concealment and great killing effect.

But it is precisely because of its concealment that mines are also one of the most inhuman weapons in the world.

Let me talk about my structure first:

Usually, military mines mainly include shells, trigger fuzes and charges. The fuse was triggered and the mine exploded.

For military purposes, mines need to be used in different (harsh) environments, and durability and reliability have become very important technical indicators of mines. Most mines are totally enclosed, so they may still be triggered and detonated after being placed in the wild for decades.

And there is another problem, that is, poor quality mines. When deminers find a complete mine, they can easily remove it according to the technical process rehearsed hundreds of times in advance. However, if they encounter mines with serious surface corrosion and broken ore bodies, they will only mark them and will not clear them immediately.

The main reason is that the technical parameters of this mine have been completely destroyed, and most of the internal safety mechanisms have failed, which is likely to explode after a very slight touch.

Since 1930, various anti-infantry mines have appeared. There are about 700 million mines in the world, and there is one for every 10 people on the earth. The country with the largest number of mines laid is Cambodia, with only150,000 people in the country, but there are as many as 30 million mines laid in various parts of Cambodia, and one person can lay two on average.

Since the Cambodia war, more than 35,000 Cambodian civilians have been killed and injured by mines.

In modern times, the idea of developing mines has changed a little-that is, it can't hurt people. Usually, wounding the soldiers of the other side will not only cause the other side to lose one person in the battle, but also need to pay a lot of manpower and material resources to help the wounded and cause a greater blow to the enemy.

Therefore, there are a large number of mines that can be densely laid.

Such as rocket mining vehicles,

This rocket mine-laying vehicle consists of six 36-tube rocket launching units, each of which can carry 20-50 anti-infantry mines, and can turn an area 1500m wide and 2500m long into a minefield in a few minutes.

At the same time, the way of using aircraft to mine mines has also been studied by various countries, such as the dragon tooth mine used by the United States in the Vietnam War:

Installed in the spreader, it can quickly spread 20,000 mines within 2X4 kilometers.

Because these anti-infantry mines are closed plastic shells, they can keep fresh in most environments. Rain and soil will not cause damage to mines. Therefore, if this kind of mine is not found in 100, it will still endanger 100.

Finally, the anti-mine treaty, because mines now kill more civilians than soldiers, so now there is the Ottawa Treaty. The aim of this treaty is to completely ban the production, stockpiling and use of anti-personnel mines. However, the military powers represented by China, the United States and Russia did not sign this treaty.

Our own statement is: "China agrees with the aims and objectives of the Convention and appreciates the humanitarian spirit embodied in the Convention. In recent years, China has participated as an observer in the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention and related activities, and since 2005, it has voted for the resolution on the implementation of the Ottawa Mine Ban Convention, which reflects China's positive attitude towards the Convention. " But we just don't sign and laugh.

I'm Sasha I'll answer that.

If the quality of the mine is good and the location of the mine is better, it will be fine for 30 to 40 years or even 40 to 50 years.

As we all know, the Golden Gate artillery battle took place in 1950s, and Taiwan Province Province deployed a large number of mines in Golden Gate.

Today, there are about 50,000 mines in Kinmen, which are difficult to clear and accidents often occur.

In April 2005, a waterworks was built in Kinmen, and the contractor invited 13 Zimbabwean demining experts.

Unexpectedly, a mine was triggered at the beginning of the operation, which triggered a serial explosion of nearly 30 mines, and two experts were killed on the spot, bloody. Several other experts turned pale with fear and went home immediately.

These American-made mines have been buried for about 50 years and still have not failed, which is quite terrible.

There is more exaggeration.

On March 24th, 20 18, an explosion occurred in Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt. So far, 1 person has been killed and three people have been injured.

This is an Egyptian construction company, building water diversion projects in desert areas. A sudden explosion occurred during the excavation, resulting in four workers being killed or injured.

At that time, the police thought it might be terrorists' explosives.

After analysis, it turned out to be a mine of the British army in World War II.

This used to be the battlefield in North Africa, where the British laid mines to stop the German attack.

After the war, the British and Egyptians cleared mines here many times, thinking that they had been cleaned up. Who knows that there are mines buried deeper and arrested.

This mine was planted in the 1940s, but it exploded on 20 18. In other words, it is amazing that mines can still hurt people after being buried for nearly 70 years.

Let's look at the structure of the mine first. The pressure plate is responsible for selecting the time when the trigger spring is pressed by multiple things. The spring shamefully inserted the primary explosive with the striking pin, and then the primary explosive detonated the entire mine charge.

So how many years can we fight effectively? Let's take a look at that shameful Koharu first. You want to be exposed to sunlight and rain. This spring will rust. If it rusts, it can't drive the needle. If it doesn't have a needle, it can't hit the primary explosive. Which means that when this thing rusts, It won't explode if you step on it, but how long will it take for the needle to rust? It depends on the sealing conditions ... years to decades.

But does a rusty needle mean that this thing can't detonate? No, the primary explosives and explosives in the mine are still there, especially the primary explosives are usually detonators. Even if there is no needle, it will explode in the case of huge collision and vibration. Like digging a shovel. ...

Whether it is a primary explosive or an explosive, it will gradually decompose in the air, which depends on the compactness of the shell and the oxidative decomposition of the shell ... depending on the local climate and the material of the shell ... so ... there is really no correct answer to this question.

I can only say that the needle springs of most mines will be scrapped in another 20 years, but it is not easy to trigger when you step on them.

If it hadn't exploded with a shovel ... 100 might have been safer.

Landmines can be said to be the "death" in anti-infantry weapons. Whether people or animals step on mines, they are in danger of death. Generally speaking, this kind of weapon is mainly aimed at armored vehicles, not mass casualties, but has a deterrent effect on the advancing army, so that the attackers dare not act rashly. From the use point of view, mine is a defensive weapon, but if both sides set mines in a large area, it will form a complex minefield.

Such minefields can be seen all over the world. For example, a large number of mines are buried on the Sino-Vietnamese border, which has brought great harm to the local people. This is because it is easy to mine and difficult to mine. Not only the mines buried by the enemy are difficult to clear, but also the mines buried by themselves are difficult to clear. Coupled with changes in the natural environment, such as plant growth and soil movement caused by precipitation, it will bring great obstacles to mine clearance.

Because most mines are mechanical mines, the general storage life should be around 10 years; If, during this process, the detonating device of a mine, such as its mechanism, is deformed or rusted, then it may not necessarily explode. However, the age of the mine does not mean that it will not explode. It can only be said that the longer it is buried underground, the faster it will age; If it exceeds 50 years, most mechanical mines will be completely ineffective.

In other words, the validity period of buried mines should be 10 to 50 years. Therefore, within this validity period, the probability of mine explosion is relatively large. Here, for example, there is a man named Wang Xuemin in Balihe, Yunnan. His village is called "Landmine Village". Wang's father was killed on the spot by a mine when Wang was 1 1. Later, he slowly learned to dismantle ore, dismantle ore, and after learning by himself, he went to the mine with a basket on his back. He successfully cleared more than 20,000 mines in 20 years. Although he was bombed by mines during this period, it was a false alarm every time. Wang's deeds tell us that mines will explode even after the expiration date, but the probability of explosion will become smaller and smaller.

Author: Yang Fei

In the war, both sides come and go. Sometimes on the main roads, we bury mines once when we retreat, and once again when the enemy attacks and returns. The minefields on both sides are staggered, so it is difficult to tell where the safety zone is, which also brings great difficulties to the later clearance. So, does the mine have a service life? The truth is exposed, no wonder soldiers have to take risks in mine clearance.

The mine originated in the Song Dynasty in China. Song Jun ambushed the enemy with mines, stopped the enemy's attack, and its powerful strength won the Jin Army with great damage. Now, the development of mines has experienced many innovations. The validity period of mechanical trigger lightning is generally around 10 years, and the induced lightning should be judged according to the temperature and environment of the protected area. If it is in a humid environment, the validity period is 7-9 years, and it will be longer in a dry environment.

As the saying goes, "mine clearance in Breby is easy". Because of its low cost, mines are widely used in wartime. If you want to clean it thoroughly, you need to invest a lot of manpower and material resources, which is very inefficient. Today, with the modernization and mechanization of demining equipment, manual demining is also a helpless move to ensure safety, but it is also the most effective and thorough demining method, with the aim of ensuring foolproof.

From 1993 to 1994, our army carried out the first large-scale border demining operation. 1997 to 2000, our army carried out the second large-scale border demining operation. In these two famous border demining operations, our army invested more than 2,000 officers and men. Our soldiers fought in the tropical mountain jungle and conquered the dead zone again and again. Although every demining operation has strict plans and safety measures, accidents are still inevitable.

Up to now, there are still some "minefields" on the border between China and Vietnam, so-called "mine villages", which seriously restrict the life and production of people on the border. Although China's engineering units have carried out large-scale demining operations, there are still small minefields for various reasons, and they have been abandoned!

Crossing the red line to ensure defense safety or slow down the enemy's attack speed is a simple and efficient way of laying mines. However, when the war stopped and peace came, these past minefields became a heavy security burden, which seriously affected the production and life of the military and civilians and must be cleared.

Generally, most mines close down in ten years, a few lucky ones can last for twenty or thirty years, and a few are still quite dangerous after half a century. Mine is mainly composed of two parts, one is the initiation unit, that is, fuse and detonator, and the other is the killing unit, that is, internal explosives, steel balls, prefabricated fragment mine shells and so on. The principle of mine initiation is actually very simple. When you step on or pull the mine safety mechanism, a spring structure inside the mine will be activated, and the spring will hit the fuse with a striker, and then the fuse will ignite the detonator, and the detonator will detonate the explosive, and the mine will explode.

(mixed with thunder)

(thunder)

At present, the underground mines in the world are basically old-fashioned metal structures. The metal firing pin and spring inside the mine will rust, age, break and deform in ten years when exposed to the sun, wind and rain in the wild. In this case, the mine will lose its normal tactical performance. At this time, you can say that it is basically ineffective as a weapon. But it is a huge hidden danger in peacetime, which will lead to two extreme situations. Because of the displacement change of the internal initiation excitation device, you may not explode at all when you step on it, but you may explode when you gently move it, which is full of uncertainty. This is why some people are active in minefields with a long history and have been safe for decades, but they stumble in the end.

Another point is that even if the initiating unit fails, the detonators and explosives of the internal killing unit are still very dangerous if they are still within the shelf life, because you may be fine if you step on them, but the detonators are very sensitive. If you use a shovel or an excavator to dig a bucket for a strong impact during farming or construction, unfortunately, it will also detonate explosives and present you with the most beautiful fireworks.

Explosives are stored in mineral shells. As long as the shell is not completely rusted and peeled off, explosives are difficult to be oxidized, and mines are still very dangerous, especially underground with relatively stable environmental conditions. Sometimes even in the past 100 years, explosives can still be detonated. On the European plains, Germany and France often dig up the bombs dropped in World War II or even World War I. A century later, the explosives inside them are still powerful.

Generally speaking, the degree of oxidation corrosion of traditional metal mines will vary according to the humidity of the environment, but it will not last for 20 years. Nowadays, plastic mines have been widely used. This kind of mine is more corrosion resistant, better sealed and longer shelf life than metal mines. Theoretically, it takes at least 100 years for plastics to degrade in nature, so the shelf life of plastic mines is conservatively estimated at about 30 years. So I hope that mines can be completely banned in the future, because demining is really difficult!

(Type 72 plastic shell mine)

(The "Iron Watermelon" Mine dubbed by domestic guerrillas)

Text: Desktop Warchess | Saiwen

Sometimes we will see some news that a farmer was injured while planting crops in a mountain village. This mine was buried forty or fifty years ago. Or during the archaeological work of the archaeological team, a large number of underground minefields were issued, all of which were explosive.

(Type 59 anti-infantry mine)

So these mines buried before and after World War II have been buried in the soil for so long, can they really work now? The answer is uncertain.

Know about mines

First, let's understand the structure of mines. Landmines were first invented by China. At that time, it was an explosive firearm buried underground or laid on the ground. In Song Dynasty, the iron shell mine was invented to deal with the Jin Army, which caused great losses to the Jin Army. However, mines were only used in Europe in the15th century.

(Simple construction principle of mines)

The structure of mines is very simple, mainly composed of initiators and killers. As the name implies, initiators are used to detonate mines, and most of them are composed of fuses and detonators. The killers are explosives, shrapnel and steel balls inside mines, which kill the enemy through this part of explosion. In most mines, the safety mechanism is triggered by external factors, such as the external impact and tension on the mine, and the striker acting on the spring structure hits the fuse. Finally, the fuse ignites the detonator, which finally detonates the internal explosive and the mine explodes.

"Shelf life" of mines

After understanding the explosion principle of mines, let's explain why mines can explode after being buried for so long. A large number of mines buried before and after World War II are mostly old-fashioned metal mines. However, this metal can only remain in the soil for about ten years, and most of it will age, rust and break. Within ten years, and the metal part can't play its role in the mine structure, this makes the mine lose its basic combat capability. This is what we call an ordinary mine with a life span of only about ten years.

(The service life of Type 72 metal-shell anti-tank mine and Type 72 plastic-shell anti-tank mine in soil is also very different. )

But only the detonator of the mine is lost, and the explosives and detonators inside the mine will not be affected at all. So after 30 or 40 years, ordinary stepping on mines will not trigger mines, but in some construction sites, excavators, hoes and shovels will have a strong impact on detonators, which will trigger mine explosions.

(The US military is deploying M 18A 1 Dadaolei)

If the mine is to be completely ineffective, the explosives inside the mine need to be oxidized, but it takes at least 20 years for the metal shell wrapped outside the mine to completely rust and fall off, so the explosives inside are easily oxidized. Even in Europe, France and Germany will dig out the buried bombs left by World War I at that time, and the explosives inside them can still produce great power. There are more and more mines with modern plastic shells. Not only are they lighter than metal mines, they can carry more explosives, but more importantly, the degradation time of plastics in soil is longer. Theoretically, when plastics are buried in soil, it takes more than 65,438+000 years to degrade. Modern plastic shell mines buried in the soil have a shelf life of at least 40 years, which poses a great threat to people living in future generations.

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Therefore, in the end, most of the mines buried around World War II will be ineffective in about ten years, and a few different types of mines can last for about twenty or thirty years. Only a few mines are laid in a relatively stable environment and can last for about 40 to 50 years.

Mine manufacturing technology is also developing constantly, and the previous all-metal mines have been gradually eliminated because of their high price and easy detection. Nowadays, the plastic shell mine is cheaper than metal, more concealed and more corrosion-resistant, which is the most mainstream. To put it bluntly, it is cheap, easy to use and cheap.

If it is buried underground, how long will it take? You can refer to the degradation life of plastic products. It is said that it takes 400 years for products such as civil plastic bags called white garbage to be buried underground to degrade. So in theory, a well-sealed plastic shell mine is valid for 400 years.

It's hard to make it clear in one sentence. Although the technical content of the mine is not high, the output is particularly high. I know that the "effective" in the question is to ask how long the mine can't be dug out and it will automatically become invalid. This is the problem. When engineers really encounter mine clearance, those intact and effective mines are not terrible. Terrible is the so-called "ineffective" mines! With the development of modern science and technology, the harm of mines is also widely known. Those who can make mines, if they have a choice, will also consider not bothering themselves with mines. At one time, mines developed into all-ceramic or all-plastic systems, which made mine clearance more difficult. Later, there was an international convention, and it is precisely for this reason that mines must contain more than 14 grams of metallic substances.

There is also a mine design. Once the safety is turned on, the mine fuse will automatically fail if the mine is not triggered within the set time. These are of course good, but the reality is that some people can guarantee that the mine fuse will fail, but no one can guarantee that the mine with failed fuse will not explode! In the past, there was an area in southern Xinjiang, where China and Vietnam laid many mines, and the fighting lasted for more than ten years. However, the demining work has not ended until today. I was also moved by the video circulating on the Internet that deminers walked into the minefield hand in hand after finishing a minefield. But let me say something negative-it's really useless.

I think there are many people from southern Xinjiang and many people who have been to southern Xinjiang. They must be deeply impressed by the rainy season there. Every rainy season, there will be flash floods and mudslides of different sizes on every hill. Every year, the terrain of the minefield will change. Some mines will be buried deeply, some will be washed away, some buried deeply will emerge in two years, some washed away may rush back, or other minefields will rush over, and some will be pushed out by plants. Carrying the same metal mine to a high place, in that environment, because of the high humidity and heat, it will rust in a year or two and never explode. It can also be naturally carried to places with smooth running water and good ventilation. Today, it's like a new one, just a little dusty, ready to burst into its own light and heat! That kind of all-plastic or all-ceramic will definitely not explode when it naturally fails, and some will wait!

As short as a decade or two, as long as more than half a century. About the life cycle of mines that have not been excluded, you can learn about "mine pollution" around the world. These mines left over from the war years, even after decades, still pose a great threat. For example, the mines mentioned in the title can be traced back to World War II. It is reported in the news that these explosives have been buried underground for more than 70 years due to construction or other reasons. For example, on May 4th, 20 18, local time in Egypt, a mine left over from World War II exploded at the construction site of the new administrative capital, causing 4 deaths 1 injuries to the workers on site.

Egypt was the main battlefield in North Africa during World War II. There were many mines buried underground during the war. As long as the explosives in these mines are not completely passivated, they may explode under the trigger of external forces. In fact, for the old-fashioned mechanical anti-infantry mine (TNT explosive+mechanical fuse), the mechanical parts buried in the ground for about 10~ 15 years will be corroded, deformed and broken under the influence of the environment, resulting in the mine not being triggered normally, but this does not mean that the mine has completely failed, and the corrosion of its internal mechanical structure only reduces the sensitivity of the mine to be detonated.

Then let's talk about the material of mine casing. In addition to ordinary metals, some mines are made of plastic. It should be clear to everyone that plastics will not be naturally degraded by nature in a short time, and the impact on the environment is very long. "Plastic mines" can really appear in history. For example, the well-known "Butterfly Thunder" is one of them. This thing was originally invented by Americans. That is, the BLU-43 "Longya" concentrated mine was used in the Vietnam War battlefield, and it was laid by air. Later, the Soviet Union copied its own model PFM- 1 based on this mine, and it was used in the battlefield in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Soviet Union dropped millions of these "butterfly mines" on the battlefield in Afghanistan. However, even today, these mines are still a nightmare for local people, and even some Afghan children are still there.

"Butterfly Thunder" in Afghanistan

Therefore, those mines buried in the soil that have not exploded or even been discovered today are unstable "time bombs" for local people. No one knows whether these mines have failed. The life cycle of many mines is as long as decades or even more than half a century, and with the current level of science and technology, it is impossible to completely eliminate the threat of these legacy mines!