Off-route Mines
Off-route mines are designed to be effective when detonated next to a vehicle instead of underneath the vehicle. They are useful in cases where the ground or surface is not suitable for burying or concealing a mine. They normally employ a shaped charge to focus the explosive effect in order to pierce armour. However the self forging projectile principle has been used for some French and Soviet off route mines and has earned infamy as an improvised explosive devices (IED) technique in Iraq.
One example of such a device is the US M24 that consists of a rocket launcher tube firing a HEAT rocket that is detonated by a pressure sensitive tape switch laid across the road.
The term "off-route mine" refers to purpose designed and manufactured anti-tank mines, but most "home made" IEDs are employed in a similar manner.
Read more about this topic: Anti-tank Mine
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