Evidence Points to US Scattering Mines over Iranian Village
The US appears to have deployed the Gator Scatterable Mine system over Kafari, a village near Shiraz, in southern Iran overnight. Several people were killed according to Iranian media.  Three experts told Bellingcat the munitions appeared to be air-delivered US-made Gator anti-tank mines. 
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The US appears to have deployed the Gator Scatterable Mine system over Kafari, a village near Shiraz, in southern Iran overnight. Several people were killed according to Iranian media.
Three experts told Bellingcat the munitions appeared to be air-delivered US-made Gator anti-tank mines.
The US is the only participant in the Iran war known to possess Gator Scatterable Mines.
Bellingcat asked the US Department of Defense whether it had dropped the mines overnight, but did not receive a response at time of publication.
Dr NR Jenzen-Jones, Director of Armament Research Services, told Bellingcat that the images appeared to show US-made anti-tank landmines.
“These images show what appear to be American BLU-91/B scatterable anti-tank landmines.
“The BLU-91/B is dispensed from the CBU-78/B or CBU-89/B air-delivered cargo bombs (cluster munitions).
“The presence of square ‘aeroballistic adaptors’ indicates that the mines seen here were delivered by air. Similar mines can be dispensed from the vehicle- or helicopter-based Volcano system.”
Gator “SCATMINE” system. BLU-91/B pictured on the bottom left, BLU-92/B pictured on the bottom right. Source: Department of the Army.
Amael Kotlarski, Weapons Team leader at Janes, also identified the mines as BLU-91/B ‘Gator’ anti-tank mines. Kotlarski told Bellingcat “the BLU-91/B is dispensed from either the US Air Force’s CBU-89/B (72 BLU-91/B and 22 BLU-92/B) or the US Navy’s CBU-78/B (45 BLU-91/B and 15 BLU-92/B).”
He elaborated that the BLU/92B is an anti-personnel mine, similar in appearance to a BLU/91B, though not identical.
“No BLU-92/B is observable in the photographic evidence presented so far. This could be that they have not been found, or that the dispensers were loaded solely with AT mines to help reduce the risk to civilians.”
BLU-91/B anti-tank mine posted by Iranian Media. Source: IRIB News.
Gator Scatterable Mines System
The Gator system is an air-delivered dispenser system or cargo bomb that distributes mines over an area. These dispensers contain a mixture of either 94 or 60 BLU-92/B anti-personnel and BLU-91/B anti-vehicle mines depending on which dispenser is used. These dispensers release the mines over an area of approximately 200 by 650 metres. In the images reviewed by Bellingcat, it is not clear which dispenser was used, or how many dispensers were deployed.
Andro Mathewson, an independent open source analyst, who formerly worked at landmine-clearing NGO The HALO Trust, told Bellingcat the images showed BLU-91/B mines.
BLU-91/B mine found with an aeroballistic adaptor. Source: Tasnim News.
Some of the images of the mines posted by Iranian media show an aeroballistic adaptor. The aeroballistic adaptor is only present on the BLU-91/B and BLU-92/B, not on other mines within the US Family of Scatterable Mines (FASCAM), indicating that these were deployed from a Gator system aircraft dispenser.
BLU-91/B mine with a partially broken aeroballistic adaptor. Source: Tasnim News.
BLU-91/B and BLU-92/B Mines and Self-Destruct Features
Both BLU-91/B and BLU-92/B mines are activated two minutes after being deployed; however, a very small number can fail to properly arm and explode. These mines also have self-destruct features with a variable delay which means they may randomly explode hours or days after they are dispensed. They may also explode if disturbed. These features make them particularly dangerous.
So far, only visual evidence of magnetically influenced BLU-91/B anti-tank mines has been posted online, but these mines are usually deployed alongside the anti-personnel BLU-92/B. The BLU-92/B also deploys tripwires.
In addition to the self-destruct features, the BLU-92/B anti-personnel mines have an anti-handling device (AHD) that is intended to make the mine explode when disturbed. While BLU-91/B anti-tank mines do not have an anti-handling device (AHD), they “may detonate when moved, because the mine may sense a significant change from its original orientation.”
Amael Kotlarski of Janes told Bellingcat that “The mine will go off if subjected to significant movement.” This could explain local reports that a man was killed when he picked one up near his car.
Uniquely US Weapons
The US is the only participant in the war known to possess these mines. They were developed after the US stopped supplying arms to Iran. A review of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Arms Transfer Database, and US Major Arms Sales does not show any transfers of these mines to Israel.
Dr Jenzen-Jones also told Bellingcat that “Scatterable anti-tank landmines may have been employed to deny vehicles access to or from so-called ‘missile cities’. This could both prevent TELs [missile launch vehicles] from leaving, and limit efforts to re-establish access to facilities (for example, by preventing excavators from operating at collapsed entrances).”
Two of the mines visible in the video geolocated by Bellingcat. The mine on the right has an aeroballistic adaptor, while the one on the left does not. Source: Reason2Resist with Dimitri Lascaris.
Bellingcat asked the US Department of Defense to confirm whether they dropped mines in this area, how many were deployed, and what the intended target was. They did not respond at time of publication.
Bellingcat was unable to determine how many more mines were scattered over the village. Some mines may not yet have been found due to where they landed.
Bellingcat’s Carlos Gonzales and Logan Williamsas well as Felix Matteo Lommerse contributed research to this article.
