One Step Beyond – Mines – Angola – No 4

This simple plastic Anti-Personnel (AP) blast mine is similar in operation to wooden box mines like the Russian PMD-6. The mine consists of a plastic box with a hinged lid that overlaps the sides. The main charge is a block of cast TNT, housed in an internal plastic compartment which occupies just over half of the volume of the box at the hinged end. The wall of this compartment is threaded to accept a fuze assembly; the remainder of the box is empty. The metal fuze assembly, which incorporates a lead-shear arming delay, is fitted through a hole in the end of the mine and screwed into the wall of the charge compartment, sealed by a rubber O-ring. The fuze and arming pin protrude through the end of the mine opposite the hinge. The arming pin is attached to a pull ring, which is looped over the fuze body and retained by a plastic cap during transit for additional safety. Instead of the winged pin used in MUV series fuzes, the striker in the No 4 mine is retained by a square slotted plate on which the open end of the box rests. The mines used in the Falklands were olive green with white stencilling, though sand coloured variants were also produced.

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