Ukrainian Armed Forces reportedly have received and already put US-supplied remote anti-armour mines to use.
The Ukraine Weapons Tracker open-source intelligence (OSINT) group has released the image showing what appears to be the wreckage of an M70/M73 Remote Anti-Armor Munition, or RAAM – U.S. submunitions used to emplace artillery-delivered minefields remotely.
RAAM is a mining system fired from a 155mm howitzer and disperses antitank mines over a set area on the battlefield.
According to the U.S. Army website, the RAAM submunitions are designed to delay, disrupt, destroy and deny the enemy the use of certain terrain.
The RAAM anti-armor mines accomplish the area denial objective of the minefield. The anti-armor mine arms after coming to rest on the ground. Any threat armored object passing over the mine will cause it to initiate and damage or destroy the vehicle.
RAAM is highly effective when used in conjunction with the ADAM mine, which helps prevent neutralization by enemy ground troops. There are nine RAAM mines per 155-mm projectile. Minefield densities and self-destruct times are the same as ADAM (M741 short-destruct, M718 long-destruct).
According to some reports, like one from Defence Express, the delivery of 155mm RAAM projectiles with submunitions for remote mining of the terrain was provided for by two packages of military aid from the United States, allocated in September and October 2022, respectively. In the September package, the transfer of 1000 RAAM rounds was prescribed, in the October package – the transfer of 5000 RAAM rounds, in total – 6 thousand of such “cluster” systems.
