Re: Anti-armor mines!

You wrote: 

You started it--now I get to pontificate!

>I'd imagine anti-armour mines would be more of a problem for walkers 
than >tanks. In fact, I think they'd be problematic for Power Armour, 
too. I'd >imagine you could build plastic explosive based pressure 
mines that are >triggered by walker and PA ground pressure. (This 
brings up the point that >mine detectors might have to be chemical 
sniffers as opposed to metal >detectors.)

We'd be seeing the development of an intermediate class of mines.  Real 
anti-tank mines will have to be directed energy to deal with Grav, GEV, 
and simply real tough undersides.  A simple blast mine has a hard time 
doing anything more than popping tracks nowdays (unless some dumbass 
drives over it in a BRDM, in which case he deserves to cook).  These 
will be, with proper materials (and I am no expert on this, but some of 
ya'll seem to be), non-metallic.  Already we are at the point where 
only two items need to be metallic--the firing pin and plate.  The 
plate is real cooker--the explosive just sets the plate in motion and 
it slams through the floor of the tank, ruining the day of anyone 
inside.  I'm willing to be a non-ferrous substitute could be found, 
maybe even a ceramic?  A lot of AT mines do without it, but they can't 
K-Kill tanks, just M-Kill.  Firing pin is no sweat to make 
non-metallic, again, a good ceramic.  The problem, as I see it, comes 
if you want to include neato sensors or IFF in it.  Then we'd need 
non-metallic electronic components, including radio antennas.  I am not 
qualified to have an opinion on the feasability of this in the future.	
I can say that mines such as the TC-6 series (Italian, liscence built 
by Egypt) have 2.86g of metal in the 6kg mine, the steel striker tip.  
If the sensitivity on your metal detector is low enough to detect, the 
background noise is going to set it off nearly constantly.  But it 
becomes much easier with their electronics package allowing remote 
activation/deactivation.

This is why, in me house rules, I'm deliberately pointing out that 
these are NOT metal detectors, but Ground Peneterating Radars, IRs, 
chemical sniffers, and God Alone knows what else..

True AP will either be area effect (M-16&-18 series) or derivations of 
the 'Toe Popper' M-14.	To have the ooph to effect PA, Walkers, and 
other light armored vehicles will be beyond the toe poppers, but the 
area effect ones might do so at close range.  You could also have a 
straight "Heavy AP" or "Light AT" blast mine mixed in with your AP and 
AT mines.  My bet is that they would be called Light AT in keeping with 
the current political idiodicy associated with "Anti-Personell Mines".

John M. Atkinson