A directional anti-personnel mine built for the operator who has to carry it.
The Vallum is a next-generation directional anti-personnel mine engineered to replace the M18A1 Claymore in the role it has held since 1960. The M18A1 is a Cold War platform. It was designed for a different war, a different load-out, and a different operator. The Vallum was built for the one fighting now.
The mine measures 7.875 inches by 3.5 inches by 2 inches and weighs 24.43 ounces inert. It fits inside a standard mil-spec double M4 magazine pouch. The dismounted operator carries it on body without a dedicated bandoleer, without sacrificing ammunition load, and without the awkward bulk that has kept the M18A1 strapped to the outside of rucks for sixty years. The Vallum goes where the magazines go.
The mine ships inert. No explosive fill from the factory. The receiver tray inside the housing accepts C-4, Semtex, or comparable plastic explosive, charged by the end user in the field. Seating the tray auto-trims excess fill for a consistent charge profile without measuring tools. The operator loads what is on hand, closes the housing, and the mine is ready. Inert shipping changes the entire logistics picture. The Vallum moves through the supply chain as a manufactured device rather than as live ordnance, which means storage, transport, and pre-positioning all simplify.
Loaded with C-4, the Vallum carries 28 cubic inches of fill at approximately 1.61 pounds. Total loaded weight is 3.14 pounds. The M18A1 weighs 3.5 pounds. The Vallum is lighter, smaller, and packs denser.
The projectile count is where the platform separates itself. The M18A1 fires 700 steel spheres. The Vallum fires 1,134 projectiles weighing a combined 7.198 ounces. That is 62 percent more projectiles in a smaller envelope, delivered at the effective range the M18A1 has held as the standard for six decades. More projectiles in the dispersion pattern means a denser kill zone. A denser kill zone means a higher probability of effect on every threat inside the arc. The operator gets more performance from a smaller, lighter device.
The legs stake directly into soil for concealed, low-profile emplacement, or splay outward to create a four-point free-standing base on hard surfaces where staking is not possible. Dual cap wells in the housing support redundant or serialized initiation. Units daisy-chain for area denial, ambush lines, or layered defensive arrays. The Vallum integrates with the initiation systems already in the inventory.
The Vallum was developed for the dismounted operator. The man whose load-out is already too heavy, whose pouches are already full, whose mission demands more capability from less weight. Special operations elements running long-range reconnaissance, direct action teams operating beyond the supply chain, conventional infantry units who have asked for sixty years why their anti-personnel mine still looks and weighs like the one their grandfathers carried. The Vallum is the answer to that question.
It is a Cold War problem solved with current manufacturing, current materials, and a current understanding of what the man on the ground actually carries.
The Vallum is currently in evaluation for defense-sector applications. Inquiries from qualified government, military, and agency end users are accepted directly through Centurion Armament Co. Program details, performance data, and procurement access are released under NDA.
