Stonefish (mine)

Stonefish is a naval influence mine manufactured by British defence company BAE Systems. It has been exported to friendly countries such as Australia, which has both warstock and training versions of Stonefish. There has been conjecture that South Africa, Chile, Iraq, Libya and possibly other countries may have gained access to either some early Stonefish information or to similar technology. The mine is named after the venomous stonefish. Stonefish mines generally have two suspension lugs in order to facilitate handling operations e.g. winching. They can be deployed by fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, surface vessels and submarines. It is a cylindrically shaped, modular weapon, comprising three separate sections which are joined together to form one unit: launching system (e.g. nose fairing, tail-fin unit, parachute-pack and arming lanyards for air-dropped delivery) electronics pack (incorporating safety/arming devices, target processing computer and associated fuze mechanisms) aluminised PBX high explosive warhead There are four different versions of the Stonefish mine, only one of which is intended for use in combat. The other three versions are intended for training or target acquisition purposes. These are: Warstock mine. Used in combat. Contains an explosive warhead. Incorporates acoustic, magnetic and pressure sensors, coupled with computerised electronics to provide target assessment i.e. whether the target is genuine, whether it is regarded as a legitimate enemy target, and whether it lies within the destructive blast radius of the warhead. Detonation will only be triggered when all three criteria have been met. Drill practice mine. A low-cost training version which does not contain any explosives. It is used to teach operators the drills and procedures required for optimum handling, transportation, fuze programming and preparation. This enables warstock mines to be used in combat with the maximum operational effectiveness. Assessment mine.