I got the impression that these could be left in place and could be forgotten, just like any other mine. I just think that in this particular war, for example, there are not a lot of opportunities to use this kind of weapon. I don't think it'd be worth that much money spent developing a weapon like that.

“The United States will continue to develop non-persistent anti-personnel and anti-tank landmines.”

HRW reports that, “New U.S. landmines will have a variety of ways of being initiated, both command-detonation (that is, when a soldier decides when to explode the mine, sometimes called ‘man-in-the-loop’) and traditional victim-activation. A mine that is designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person (i.e., victim-activation) is prohibited under the International Mine Ban Treaty.”

To sidestep international opposition, the Pentagon proposes development of the “Spider” system, which consists of a control unit capable of monitoring up to eighty-four hand-placed, unattended munitions that deploy a web of tripwires across an area. Once a wire is touched, a man-in-the-loop control system allows the operator to activate the devices.

The Spider, however, contains a “battlefield override” feature that allows for circumvention of the man-in-the-loop, and activation by the target (victim).

A Pentagon report to Congress stated, “Target Activation is a software feature that allows the man-in-the-loop to change the capability of a munition from requiring action by an operator prior to being detonated, to a munition that will be detonated by a target. The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Service Chiefs, using best military judgment, feel that the man-in-the-loop system without this feature would be insufficient to meet tactical operational conditions and electronic countermeasures.”

This isn't that serious, but you know, sometimes it is really hard to be proud of America.

They tend to spam old soviet mines everywhere and forget what they've done with them.

The US is in a good group of countries who didn't sign the Ottowa Treaty.

but they kill people.

The US is in a good group of countries who didn't sign the Ottowa Treaty.

Hippies kill people with stupid, every day

The US is in a good group of countries who didn't sign the Ottowa Treaty.

Hello kids.

The US does not put down mines and wait for them to kill bad guys in some ambush spot near a school.

We line the places where we sleep with them so we don't get shanked in our sleep. And when we leave we pick them up.

It's not like we are setting up surprise traps anymore. At least, the regular military isn't. There might be some long haired guys with smoking Mk48s setting landmines in caves in asscrackistan because they are playing the bogeyman, I guess, but I have a feeling that they're pretty responsible with their little mines.

I can guarantee you that nearly 100% of our landmines are discriminatory as to who they kill, because the ONLY person who is going to go cross a no-man's land, climb two razorwire fences and backflip over the laser shark moat is someone who wants to teabag me in my sleep. And that is not okay.

Reafis, I am trying to figure out how the AK-47 and land mine are related.

Spook, how do you guys make sure you pick them all up after? Do you map out the field when you place them? Can they be set to send some sort of signal? Or are they all physically wired up so it's a case of following the cable back afterwards?
The unfortunate thing is that even remotely controlled mines, if left behind, become UXOs which can be dangerous for decades. The iron harvest around Normandy and Flanders still kills farmers from time to time after a war almost 100 years ago.

Land mines will not be safe until they become discriminatory with whom they explode. Unless they've got little webcams attached, the victim-tripped "spider" is still a deadly, stupid piece of warfare meant to cause fear and belittlement, but is ultimately going to kill civilians.

"Spiders" are smart IEDs.