Russian TM-62M (Metal) anti tank mine

Von D.J. Harms

The mine exists of a thin steel ring shaped body , painted olive. The fuze used in this mine is
the VM-62, a pressure fuze.

When unarmed, the firing pin mechanism the button (M) on top of the fuze is pressed,
with attached firing cap are rotated in a after which the camwheel is released and
horizontal position, so the mine is unable to slowly starts rotating. This gives a 60 to 70
function. The firing pin mechanism exists seconds delay so no accidents can happen
of a upper (A) and during
lower (B) housing covering of the
which telescope in mine.
one another. If a tank or
They are fixed in heavy vehicle
position by two drives over the
shear pins (C). The bakelite
upper housing pressure plate
contains the firing (N) of the mine
pin (D), held in it’s it will push it
upper –spring (E) down and
tensioned – position compress the
by two balls (F). firing pin
These two balls are mechanism
placed in the lower between the
fuze body. When the aluminium
upper and lower body are pushed in one plate (O) inside the bakelite pressure plate
another, the balls fall into a groove in the and the primary booster charge (P), up till
upper body , enabeling the balls to move the moment the two shear pins (C) are
outward and release the firing pin. The sheared off. The upper firing pin housing
lower housing also houses the firing cap moves further down, releasing the two balls
(G). that lock up the
The firing pin firing pin. The
mechanism is held firing pin
in horizontal moves down
position by a into the firing
camwheel (H) that is cap (G) which
connected to a ignites the
gearbox (J) with a primary
clock spring (K) that booster (P), the
slowly rotates the main booster
camwheel. The charge and the
camwheel has a slot mine.
(L) in which the
firing pin The mine can
mechanism fits, be defuzed
allowing the firing again by
pin mechanism to removing the
rotate in the vertical position if it falls in the black rubber cap (R ) on top of the fuze
slot of the camwheel. After the mine is laid,
under which a keyhole is placed. By placing
the key and rotating this clockwise the
camwheel is rotated backward, rotating the
firing pin mechanism from vertical to
horizontal again, disarming the mine.
This however is allowed only for an
undamaged fuze.
The mines can be laid manually or
automatically from a mine laying machine
including the PMR-1, PMR-2 wheeled towed
mine layers, the GMZ tracked mine laying
vehicle and the VMR-2 helicopter mine
laying system.In a static test, the TM-62M
proved capable of penetrating the hull of a
Centurion tank
As the mine contains large amounts of
metal it can easily be found with a metal
detector.