Purpose
Anti-handling devices serve two military purposes:
- To prevent the capture and reuse of the munition by enemy forces.
- To hinder bomb disposal or demining operations, both directly and by deterrence, thereby creating a much more effective hazard or barrier.
Anti-handling devices greatly increase the impact of munitions on civilian populations in the areas in which they are used because their mechanisms are so easily triggered. An unexploded bomb may or may not detonate if it is lifted or overturned, whereas an anti-tank mine with an anti-handling device fitted is almost guaranteed to detonate if it is lifted/overturned, because it is specifically designed to do so. Additionally, munitions fitted with anti-handling devices increase the difficulty and cost of post-conflict clearing operations, due to the inherent dangers of attempting to render them safe.
Not all munitions will have an anti-handling device fitted or enabled. Perhaps one in ten antitank mines in a large defensive minefield will have boobytrap firing devices screwed into their secondary fuze wells. Even so, deminers and EOD personnel are forced to assume that all items they encounter may have been boobytrapped, and must therefore take extra precautions. This has the effect of significantly slowing down the clearance process, even allowing for the fact that the anti-tank mines in question may be interspersed with various different types of minimum metal antipersonnel mines such as the VS-50 or TS-50, some of which can also have anti-handling features.
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