Deploying Mine Clearing Line Charge, Ukraine Thinks Outside the Box – Literally

In September 2022, the US announced it would be supplying additional mine clearing equipment as part of a $600 million security assistance package to Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Included among the mine clearance equipment was the M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge (MICLIC). This is a rocket-projected “explosive hose” used to provide a “close-in” demining capability that can rapidly produce a safe lane through a minefield.

The MICLIC system has been in service with US forces since 1988. It is normally contained in a box carried behind an engineering vehicle in an M353 wheeled or M200 tracked trailer. The system consists of a 127mm MK22 Mod 4 rocket to which is attached an M58A3 line charge and the M147 firing kit. The line charge is a 107-meter-long hose filled with C-4 plastic explosive blocks spread along the length of the hose around 7.5 kilograms per meter; a total of around 800 kilograms of explosive in total.

In November 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) showed photographs of the M58 MICLIC being used in Ukraine for the first time.

Today the AFU’s State Special Service of Transport published a video on its Telegram channel showing how they had modified the system by moving the MICLIC box from a trailer and placing it on the carrying platform of a military truck.

This was designed to improve both the mobility of the installation and reduce the time to deploy it in the field. The post says that the modification had been fully tested and was to be deployed to the front line shortly.

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