Ukrainian Armored Vehicles Equipped With PIDRYV Electromagnetic Mine-Clearing Systems

Ukraine has developed the PIDRYV electromagnetic mine-clearing system designed to counter mines equipped with magnetic fuzes.

The Ukrainian manufacturer discussed the system with Militarnyi.

About 30-40% of mines used in remote mining are equipped with a magnetic fuze.

“This type of threat is precisely what became the main task for PIDRYV,” the manufacturer said.

Unlike a conventional pressure-activated mine, such a munition does not require direct contact with a wheel or track — its fuze responds to a change in the magnetic field as a vehicle approaches.

The system generates a controlled magnetic field ahead of the carrier up to 7 meters away.

This effectively causes the mine to “detect” the vehicle before it physically reaches it.

If the magnetic fuze is triggered, the explosion should occur in front of the vehicle rather than directly underneath it.
PIDRYV operates while the vehicle is moving, so the system does not require the vehicle to stop to trigger a mine. The vehicle can continue along its route.

The system has been tested on armored vehicles, ground drones, and a mine-clearing vehicle.

PIDRYV has also been delivered to three Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades for combat use and has been codified under the NATO codification system.

Electromagnetic Mine-Clearing Systems

This technology emerged during the Soviet era and was known as the “Electromagnetic Attachment for Track-Type Mine-Clearing Systems, Payshchik.”

Development began in the early 1970s, and the Soviet military adopted the system in 1985.

The magnetic field triggered mines approximately 4-6 meters ahead of the tank. The working assembly consisted of two electromagnets mounted on the mine-clearing system’s frame.

Payshchik was not a fully independent mine-clearing system in the sense of a standalone design mounted on a tank. It was an additional electromagnetic system installed on existing track-type mine-clearing systems.

Thus, a conventional mechanical mine-clearing system could also counter mines equipped with magnetic fuzes.