ADAM Anti-Personnel Mines Make a SURPRISE Appearance in Ukraine

Precision Mines vs. Meat Assaults: Ukraine Now Using ADAM Mines

One of our first confirmations that Ukraine is using ADAM mines. United24

In November’s $275 million weapons package announced under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), Ukraine received ADAM anti-personnel landmines (APL) for the first time.

While the Pentagon didn’t explicitly list the mines in the package, it later confirmed their inclusion.

And if history is any indication, Moscow is about to have a very bad time.

In 2023, I was interviewed by the incomparable Stefan Korshak, Kyiv Post Senior Defense Correspondent, about Ukraine’s use of American-supplied RAAM landmines.

While both RAAM and ADAM are artillery-delivered systems designed for rapid mine deployment, RAAM focuses on anti-armor operations by targeting vehicles. In contrast, ADAM is geared towards area denial against enemy personnel.

At the time, Ukraine was using RAAM to make life as a Russian BMP driver short and brutal.

ADAM is the same thing, but instead of seeding an area with anti-vehicle mines, the US supplied ADAM to help Ukraine with its persistent “meat wave” problem.

The ADAM is no ordinary mine. Each 155mm shell carries 36 self-deactivating APLs that can be scattered across the battlefield with a decent level of precision.

Once deployed, these mines launch tripwires in all directions, waiting for the first unlucky Russian soldier to stumble into the blast radius. The M692 and M731 variants, which Ukraine is likely receiving, have different battery life spans—48 hours for the M67 mines in the M692 and a shorter 4-hour lifespan for the M72 mines in the M731.

Even if they don’t go off, they automatically deactivate after 14 days, making them considerably safer than Russia’s "scatter-and-forget" approach to landmines.

After all, we don’t want future Ukrainian civilians stumbling on these things when this war inevitably ends – so the fact that they “self-destruct” after a set period of time is a hallmark of forward-thinking weapon design.

To be clear, these aren’t just random explosives tossed around like Soviet-era conscripts in Afghanistan. ADAMs are designed to be deployed precisely when and where needed, creating instant no-go zones for Russian forces attempting to advance.

This is area denial at its finest. In fact, Ukraine has used this tactic before in Vuhledar, using anti-armor RAAM mines to funnel Russian armor into kill zones.