If, for whatever reason, the Cold War had turned Hot,
thousands of NATO and Warsaw Pact tanks would have clashed along borders all over Europe,
likely resulting in the biggest Armoured Conflict the world had ever seen.
But this all might’ve taken a bit longer than you’d think.
Because between these two armoured forces lay thousands upon thousands of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.
And this was the US Army’s solution – the XM130 SLUFAE Rocket System.
SLUFAE was an acronym for Surface Launched Unit Fuel Air Explosive.
Surface Launched Unit described the vehicle launching the rockets,
which in this case, looks to be a modified M752 Lance Missile Carrier, which was itself a modified Cargo Carrier M548.
Fuel Air Explosive describes type of warhead the rocket carried, and was the reason this system was tipped to be the new solution to enemy minefields.
FAE devices are thermobaric weapons.
This means they use oxygen from the surrounding air rather than having oxidiser present in the explosive.
Black Powder, for example, is 75% oxidiser.
Whereas thermobaric weapons are 100% fuel, and because of this they have the potential to be much more energetic than a conventional warhead of similar weight.
FAE weapons consist of a container of fuel and two explosive charges.
The first explosive will burst open the container of fuel, dispersing it into a fine mist and mixing it into the surrounding oxygen in the air.
This cloud of fuel-air mix disperses into the surrounding area, through tunnels, into bunkers, into foxholes.
The second charge then detonates, igniting the entire cloud and creating a deadly blast wave that can tear buildings apart and kill or seriously injure anyone unfortunate enough to get close.
One Human Rights Watch report from February 2000 had this to say about FAE weapons:
“The blast kill mechanism against living targets is unique – and unpleasant.
What kills is the pressive wave, and more importantly, the subsequent vacuum, which ruptures the lungs.
If the fuel deflagrates but does not detonate, victims will be severely burned and will probably also inhale the burning fuel.”
Really lovely stuff.
Luckily for everyone involved, SLUFAE was never intended to be used against enemy personnel, and was instead going to be a combat engineering tool.
The theory behind SLUFAE was that the massive pressure wave generated by the rockets would smash into the ground,
detonating any mines that lay below the surface and clearing the way for friendly forces.
The system mounted on the M548 could fire up to 30 SLUFAE rockets.
These rockets were 2.5m long, 345mm in diameter, and mounted a 45kg warhead.
In theory, these would be fired in sequence to clear an 8m wide, 1000m long path into an enemy minefield.
Launched from the vehicle, the rocket would arc towards the target, and then a parachute would be deployed,
ensuring the warhead was oriented correctly before it detonated in in mid-air.
The SLUFAE system was completed and ready to test by 1975.
Testing started the same year at the US Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Centre in Virginia.
The effect on vehicles and buildings on the test range was devastating,
completely crushing them into the ground.
It worked against mines as well. Most of the time.
For mines to be reliably cleared, a large amount of overlap was required for each rocket,
and it reduced the effective cleared area to 8m by 160m for a salvo of 30 rockets.
This huge decrease in cleared area was concerning.
Another concern was that the system’s pressure wave may not be as effective against mines that were buried beneath frozen soil, or those laid at depths over 15cm.
Additionally, the huge launcher and carrier were extremely large and vulnerable targets, especially when you consider that SLUFAE only had a range of around 700m, meaning it was essentially a frontline vehicle.
It was never deployed or adopted by the Army, likely due to these issues.
The marines were interested in the concept, however,
and developed their own FAE system for clearing landmines before an amphibious landing.
The marine system was called CATFAE, the CAT representing “Catapult launched”.
This system was developed into the mid-80s, and was mounted in the cargo bay of an AAV-7A1 AMTRAC,
and could be fired as the landing force approached the beach.
Unfortunately they came to the same conclusion as the Army, stating:
“This system is not compatible with Marine Corps amphibious assault and tactical vehicles,
does not provide a breaching capability starting at the high watermark,
and does not meet the Marine Corps stated requirements”
The US Army today uses a mine clearing system called M58 MICLIC – a mine clearing line charge.
This type of charge was first properly used by the British in their Giant Viper system,
and essentially uses a rocket to tow a hose filled with explosive over the minefield,
before detonating the hose and clearing a path.
It can be towed behind almost all vehicles, making it a lot easier to deploy than SLUFAE.
The single SLUFAE prototype was likely put in storage sometime in the 80s.
The carrier has seemingly disappeared, but the 30-Round rocket pod was spotted for the first time about 2 weeks ago on a US Army Base.
For some reason it’s been mounted on top of an M474 Pershing Missile Carrier.
It’s unknown if this was ever an official pairing or if someone was just bored...
As for the rockets, 2 SLUFAE rockets managed to survive. One is displayed at the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum in Nevada.
The spirit of SLUFAE does live on, however, in the Russian TOS-1 Heavy Flamethrower System.
The TOS-1 mounts a 24-round launcher for 220mm FAE Rockets.
These rockets reportedly have a range of 6km or even further, so are much longer range than SLUFAE,
while being designed as an anti-building and anti-personnel weapon rather than a friendly combat engineering vehicle.
The rocket pod is mounted on top of a T-72 chassis, making it a lot less vulnerable than SLUFAE.
The TOS-1 system has been in service since 1988, with an improved TOS-2 vehicle apparently in the works.
I just want to say a special thanks to Andrew Hills and his excellent article about SLUFAE over at tanks-encyclopedia.com.
Check them out if you want some more information on other bizarre vehicles.