Zemledeliye (Agriculture) ISDM
At the International Military-Technical Forum “Army-2021” in August 2021, subsidiaries of the Rostec State Corporation showcased the Remote Mine Laying System (ISDM) and the Heavy Flamethrower System (TOS-2). Its development was started 8 years ago at NPO Splav, and the car itself was first shown to the general public at the Victory Parade on 24 June 2020.
The mining system "Agriculture", mounted on a highly mobile wheeled chassis of a KamAZ vehicle, can be easily confused with a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). They are indeed somewhat similar in appearance and have a common principle of operation, however, these systems have completely different ammunition. Unlike the well-known MLRS "Grad", ISDM "Agriculture" has not 40, but 50 launchers with a caliber of 122 mm. The firing range of the system is much less than that of the Grad - only from 5 to 15 km. The ISDM ammunition is a missile, the warhead of which is filled with anti-tank or anti-personnel mines. The ISDM system is equipped with satellite navigation, a computer and a weather station, which allows operators to make adjustments and take into account the effect of weather on missile flight.
ISDM Zemledeliye (which in Russian means 'agriculture') designed by the Splav Research and Manufacturing Association (under management of Technodynamika) comprises an 8x8 heavy duty wheeled chassis vehicle, a transporter-loader, and launch pod containers loaded with various types of mines. ISDM automatically programs launch missions and self-destruct parameters for the mines, and creates a map of the mined zone after planting the mines. All data is transmitted to the higher command tiers.
"ISDM is capable of covering an area of several football fields within minutes. The system uses two types of remote-laying containers with an option of self-destruct, loaded with anti-personnel or anti-tank mines. Armed forces have already received the first supply batch of Zemledeliye. The new system proved to have excellent performance during Command Post Exercises. During the close combat phase, the system was capable of 'mining' target areas, thus cutting off enemy reserves from the main force. We expect to finalize the ISDM and TOS-2 projects by the end of 2021," said Igor Nasenkov, General Director of Technodinamika Holding.
ISDM "Agriculture" is designed to quickly create minefields in especially dangerous areas. It fires rocket projectiles that scatter mines at a given location. The system lays a minefield of any complexity, including those with ready-made passages for friendly troops. Vietnamese journalists write that the exact characteristics of the new remote mining machine are not known and are probably kept secret. Therefore, some data will be approximate and given with an eye on the Grad MLRS, which was sometimes used in the USSR to lay minefields. With a maximum firing range (up to 15 km), a special projectile "Grad" "sows" an elliptical minefield measuring 105x70 meters. "Grad" with full ammunition can "sow" a minefield of 250,000 square meters.
Specially for "Agriculture", NPO "Splav" created a new type of rocket, the characteristics of which can only be guessed at. Previously, special projectiles for Grad were a rocket 3.02 meters long and weighing 56.4 kg. Instead of a deadly warhead, the rocket contains several POM-2 anti-personnel mines. Mines are arranged in a row along the vertical axis. Upon reaching the minefield setting area, the combat units are separated, and the mines are lowered to the ground by parachutes. As for anti-tank mines, their installation is exactly the same. The Soha portal indicates that before laying mines, the new ISDM includes a timer that, after a specified time, will deactivate the mines or cause them to self-destruct.
Both army aviation, which includes specialized helicopters, and artillery, which includes MLRS, are troops that do not have specialized engineering and sapper training. Therefore, the installation of minefields should be carried out exclusively by military engineers competent in these matters. ISDM "Agriculture" is not an ordinary, but a highly specialized weapon, which is more perfect than all existing similar machines. The system can only be used for laying mines and for no other purpose.
Many systems exist to produce mixed mine fields. The term mixed refers to the inclusion of both Antitank (AT) and Antipersonnel (AP) mines in the systems. The primary purpose of those systems is to destroy tanks and other armored vehicle in a mechanized force. The AT mines provide this capability. Because the minefield is deadly to vehicles that attempt to move through it, a force encountering a minefield is often delayed as it attempts to breach the minefield or to find its boundaries. If possible the force will attempt to go around the minefield, thus the element employing the mines can influence the maneuver options of their opponents. Again the AT mines are the component that give the minefield its delay and deterrent effects.
AP mines protect the AT mines by killing or deterring the threat of dismounted soldiers, thereby preventing them from creating a breach through the minefield by destroying or removing the AT mines. Early mine systems, often referred to as conventional mines, were buried mines that were placed in precise patterns, whose locations were recorded to facilitate removal after the war. The U.S. still employs conventional mines in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. Buried mines are difficult to detect, and thus are inherently difficult to breach. Most conventional mines have simple pressure fuses and contain no electronics.
Due to the extensive time and logistical effort involved with conventional mines, the U.S. developed its family of scatterable mines in the 1970's and 1980's. Scatterable mines are dispersed in random patterns on the surface. Advances in kill mechanisms and electronic fuses allow scatterable mines to achieve a high degree of lethality with a mine that is much smaller than a conventional mine. Because the scatterable mine is exposed on the surface it is easy for a dismounted, i.e., walking, soldier to detect nearby mines. All U.S. mixed mine systems are composed of scatterable AT and AP mines.
The precise location of mines in a scatterable minefield cannot be determined and recorded for future removal. Thus, the scatterable mines are designed to destroy themselves (self-destruct) after a predetermined short time period. The existing mixed mine systems are a very effective complement to other weapons systems in both offensive and defensive combat.
As long as the AP systems are present, the AT mines scattered on the surface of the ground are difficult to breach. In the absence of the AP mines, dismounted soldiers may easily breach surface laid (scattered) AT mines. For example, the soldiers can move quickly through the AT only minefield placing a small explosive charge on or near each AT mine. The deficiency this invention overcomes is caused by a desire to eliminate all AP mines without reducing the effectiveness of the mixed minefield.
The large number of civilian casualties caused by AP mines long after conflicts have ended (estimated by the United Nations at 10,000 annually) led to a worldwide movement to eliminate AP mines, which resulted in the Ottawa Convention. The Ottawa treaty was signed in 1997. Nations that ratify this treaty agree to prohibit the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of AP landmines and to destroy all AP mines in their possession.
Since February 24, 2022, the Russian Armed Forces have been conducting a "special military operation" to protect the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.
The combat vehicle of the latest engineering system for remote mining "Agriculture" is a 50-barrel multiple launch rocket system made on the KamAZ (8x8) chassis and firing specially designed 122-mm rockets equipped with mines of various types. Preparation of data for shooting is automated. The range of the new system is from five to 15 kilometers. Rockets are in transport and launch containers. To reload the combat vehicle, the system includes a transport-loading vehicle, also made on the KamAZ (8x8) chassis.
Servicemen of the engineering troops of the Russian Armed Forces used the latest engineering remote mining system "Agriculture" during a special military operation in the Kharkov direction. A video of the launch of rockets by ISDM "Agriculture" combat vehicles was published on March 26, 2022.
