The Valmara 59 is a large cylindrical Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 bounding

Bounding mine

A bounding mine is an anti-personnel mine designed to be used in open areas. When tripped, a small propelling charge launches the body of the mine 3-4 feet into the air, where the main charge detonates and sprays fragmentation at roughly waist height....

 anti-personnel mine

Anti-personnel mine

Anti-personnel mines are a form of land mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles...

. It is the first in the "Valmara" family of mines produced by Valsella Meccanotecnica

Valsella Meccanotecnica

Valsella Meccanotecnica SpA was one of Italy's largest manufacturers of mines. The Company's headquarters initially were in Montichiari and with two production plants in Castenedolo near Brescia, Italy....

, and was followed by the Valmara 69

Valmara 69

Valmara 69 or V-69 is an Italian bounding anti-personnel mine manufactured by Valsella. The mine was developed from the V-59 mine, and although the mine is no longer produced in Italy, a number of copies were produced in other countries e.g. the "SPM-1" manufactured by Singapore.The South African...

 and VS-JAP

VS-JAP mine

The VS-JAP is an Italian bounding anti-personnel mine. It is the latest of the Valmara family of bounding mines that includes the Valmara 59 and Valmara 69. The mine has a waterproof plastic faceted cylindrical body with a three-pronged cap, with a central fixing point for a tripwire...

. The mine's body is plastic with a distinctive five-pronged head. The central prong has a hole, to allow the threading a trip wire. The inner body of the mine has a main charge surrounded with approximately 1,000 steel cubes, below which is a steel wire connecting it to the base of the mine. When the mine is triggered a small charge launches the mine into the air approximately 45 cm before the steel wire is pulled taut, the jolt of which pulls a striker into the detonator. A secondary time fuse triggers the mine after three seconds if it has not detonated after being triggered.

The fragments produced by the mine are lethal to a range of 25 meters, and are capable of penetrating light armour.

Specifications

• Diameter: 102 mm
• Height: 196 mm
• Weight: 3.2 kg
• Explosive content: Reported between 0.42 kg and 0.56 kg of Composition B
  Composition B
  Composition B, colloquially "comp B", is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades, sticky bombs and various other munitions...
  
   with a RDX
  RDX
  RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...
  
  booster charge.
• Operating pressure: 10.8 kg pressure, 6 kg pull.