
The M18 Claymore mine is an anti-personnel mine in use by the United States military. It was developed in 1960 and named for the claymore sword of Scotland, and it operates via remote control in the direction that it is pointed in. During the Vietnam War, some Viet Cong guerrillas would turn the US weapons against them by turning the mines around, leading to Americans suffering casualties from their own mines. The Claymore operates like a shotgun, shooting metal balls upon explosion, and it has seen action in several US-allied armies; it has fought in Vietnam, the Cambodian Civil War, Rhodesian Bush War, Gulf War, Bosnian War, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War.
Gallery[]
A Vietnam War-era Claymore on display at Middletown High School South, New Jersey on 5 April 2016