View source for TM-62

{{Short description|Soviet anti-tank mine}}
{{more footnotes|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name               = TM-62 mine
| image              = 27th Independent Sevastopol Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (183-19).jpg
| origin             = [[Soviet Union]]
| type               = Anti-tank blast mine
| is_explosive       = yes
| used_by            = See ''[[#Users|Users]]''
| wars               = [[Rhodesian Bush War]]<ref name="HumanRightsWatch1997" /><br>[[South African Border War]]<ref name="HumanRightsWatch1997" /><br>[[Angolan Civil War]]<ref name="HumanRightsWatch1997">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/lmsa/ |title=STILL KILLING: Landmines in Southern Africa |date=1997 |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en |access-date=2025-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915162044/https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/lmsa/ |archive-date=2024-09-15 }}</ref> <br>[[Mozambican Civil War]]<ref name="HumanRightsWatch1997" /><br>[[Second Sudanese Civil War]]<ref name="HumanRightsWatch1997"/><br>[[First Nagorno-Karabakh War]]<ref name="NEE2021">{{Cite web |last=Kuzio |first=Taras |date=2021-04-16 |title=Mines, Karabakh and Armenia’s crisis |url=https://neweasterneurope.eu/2021/04/16/mines-karabakh-and-armenias-ccrisis/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=New Eastern Europe |language=en-GB |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250111071707/https://neweasterneurope.eu/2021/04/16/mines-karabakh-and-armenias-ccrisis/ |archive-date=2025-01-11}}</ref><br>[[Russo-Ukrainian War]]<ref name="AiF2024" /><br>[[Second Nagorno-Karabakh War]]<ref name="NEE2021" />
| variants           = See ''[[#Variants|Variants]]''
}}
[[File:Winz7.jpg|right|thumb|800px|TM-62M – the wire safety clip is still in place; the mine has not been armed]]

The '''TM-62''' is a series of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[anti-tank mine|anti-tank blast mines]] produced in various variants. It served as the primary anti-tank landmine for the Soviet military.<ref name="CISR Munitions Guide" /> It has a central [[fuze]] and typically a {{convert|7.5|kg}} explosive charge, but the variants differ greatly in detail. The mine can be laid manually or automatically from a mine laying machine including the PMR-1, PMR-2 wheeled towed mine layers, the [[GMZ-3]] tracked mine laying vehicle and the VMR-2 helicopter mine laying system. The TM-62 can be fitted with the same fuzes as the [[TM-72 mine|TM-72]], which include MVN-72 and MVN-80 fuzes, which are vibration and magnetism sensitive. The mine was used in the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]] for antitank and antipersonnel use (as [[Satchel charge|satchel charges]]).<ref name="AiF2024">{{cite web | last=Мельникова | first=Виктория | title=ВС РФ применили переделанные мины ТМ-62 для подрыва "опорников" противника | website=AiF | date=2024-08-02 | url=https://aif.ru/society/army/vs-rf-primenili-peredelannye-miny-tm-62-dlya-podryva-opornikov-protivnika | language=ru | access-date=2024-08-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111071219/https://aif.ru/society/army/vs-rf-primenili-peredelannye-miny-tm-62-dlya-podryva-opornikov-protivnika |archive-date=2025-01-11}}</ref>

==Russo-Ukrainian War==
Both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have been observed to use modified TM-62s as thrown satchel charges.<ref>{{Cite web |last=TAB |date=2024-07-14 |title=Anti-Tank Mines Used As Satchel Charges |url=https://armourersbench.com/2024/07/14/anti-tank-mines-used-as-satchel-charges/ |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=The Armourers Bench |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111073452/https://armourersbench.com/2024/07/14/anti-tank-mines-used-as-satchel-charges/ |archive-date=2025-01-11}}</ref> In addition, Ukrainian forces have deployed drones equipped with modified TM-62 payloads for precision strikes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=TAB |date=2023-10-01 |title=Heavy Drone Bombers Dropping Anti-Tank Mines |url=https://armourersbench.com/2023/10/01/heavy-drone-bombers-dropping-anti-tank-mines/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=The Armourers Bench |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111073832/https://armourersbench.com/2023/10/01/heavy-drone-bombers-dropping-anti-tank-mines/ |archive-date=2025-01-11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/ukraines-ingenious-use-of-drones-turns-battlefield-tides/ar-AA1wS0AA |title=Ukraine's ingenious use of drones turns battlefield tides |website=MSN |language=en |access-date=2025-01-13}}</ref> Strikes by a Russian UAV drone, the "Molniya-2," using a TM-62 mine as a warhead, have also been documented starting January 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hambling |first=David |title=Dangerously Smart: Russia’s Independent Attack Drone Developers |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2025/01/24/dangerously-smart-russias-independent-attack-drone-developers/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

==Variants==
[[File:2022. Краснодар. Парк 30-летия Победы DSC 9898.jpg|thumb|right|TM-62 mine]]
* TM-62M, with a circular metal case. It is the most widely employed variant.
* TM-62B, with a paper or cardboard case – basically a block of cast explosive with a fuze set into the center.
* TM-62D, with a wooden case.
* TM-62P, TM-62P2 and TM-62P3, with plastic cases. The TM-62P and TM-62P2 mine cases have ribbed sides, whereas the TM-62P3 has a smooth casing.
* TM-62T, with a fabric and epoxy casing and a central fuze.

==Fuzes==
* MVZ-62
* MVCh-62, the standard fuze with a clockwork arming delay of 30 to 120 seconds.
* MVN-62
* MVN-72, with a combination of electronics and clockwork, after an initial arming delay the magnetic influence fuze is enabled, powered by a 1.5 V battery.
* MVN-80, an improved version of the MVN-72.
* VM-62Z 
* MVP-62, with a pneumatic bellows arming delay of 20 to 300 seconds. The delay mechanism uses a minimum of metal making it difficult to detect when used with one of the minimum metal cases.
* MVP-62M
* ZN-97, a magnetic influence fuze made in Poland.

Magnetic influence fuzes provide full-width attack, i.e. any part of the target vehicle passing over the mine will trigger detonation, not just the track or wheels. However, since magnetic fuzes are electronic, their operational life relies on battery power. Ultimately the battery will run down, after which the mine no longer functions. In contrast, a purely mechanical fuze (usually triggered via a [[Belleville spring]]) gives a much longer operational life (e.g., mines planted 50 years previously will still detonate if a target vehicle drives over them).

==Specifications (TM-62M with MVZ-62 fuze)==
* Weight: {{convert|9.5|kg}}
* Explosive content: {{convert|7.5|kg}} of [[trinitrotoluene|TNT]] (although sometimes combinations of [[RDX]]/TNT/[[Aluminium]] or [[Amatol]] mixes are used)
* Diameter: {{convert|320|mm}}
* Height: {{convert|128|mm}}
* Operating pressure: {{convert|150|to|550|kg}}

==Users==
[[File:TM-62 Users.png|thumb|Map with TM-62 users in blue]]
*{{flag|Afghanistan}}<ref name="HumanRightsWatch1999">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/landmine/WEBAS3.html |title=Landmine Monitor: ASIA-PACIFIC NON-SIGNATORIES, AFGHANISTAN |date=1997 |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en |access-date=2025-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215043601/https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/landmine/WEBAS3.html |archive-date=2021-12-15}}</ref> 
*{{flag|Armenia}}
*{{flag|Angola}}<ref name="HumanRightsWatch1997" />
*{{flag|Belarus}}
*{{flag|Bulgaria}}
*{{flag|Georgia}}
*{{flag|Moldova}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2024/moldova.html |title=Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor: Moldova |website=Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor |language=en |access-date=2025-01-12}}</ref> 
*{{flag|Mozambique}}<ref name="HumanRightsWatch1997" />
*{{flag|Poland}}, as the [[MPP-B Wierzba mine]]<ref name="CISR Munitions Guide">{{Cite web |url=https://www.jmu.edu/cisr/research/munitions-guide.shtml |title=CISR Munitions Reference Guide |website=James Madison University |language=en |access-date=2025-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111080528/https://www.jmu.edu/cisr/research/munitions-guide.shtml |archive-date=2025-01-11}}</ref> 
*{{flag|Romania}}, as the [[MAT-62B mine]]<ref name="CISR Munitions Guide" />
*{{flag|Russia}}
*{{flag|Syria}}
*{{flag|Ukraine}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-15 |title=Background Briefing on Landmine Use in Ukraine {{!}} Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/15/background-briefing-landmine-use-ukraine |access-date=2025-01-29 |language=en}}</ref>

===Former users===
* {{flag|Soviet Union}}<ref name="CISR Munitions Guide" />

==See also==
*[[TM-46]] anti-tank landmine
*[[M15 mine]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
* ''Jane's Mines and Mine Clearance 2005–2006''

[[Category:Anti-tank mines]]
[[Category:Cold War weapons of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Land mines of the Soviet Union]]