OZM-72 is a fragmentation barrage mine - an anti-personnel jumping mine of circular destruction. The name in army jargon is Frog or Witch.It was developed in the USSR on the basis of the Soviet OZM-152 mine and adopted in 1973.The first combat use of the OZM-72 mine occurred during the Afghan War.In the second half of 2000, the border guard of Uzbekistan began to install OZM-72 mines in the border strip near the border with TajikistanIt can be used with all fuzes of the MUV or MVE-72 series, as well as in a controlled version. When the fuse is triggered (the standard fuse is MUV 4), the flame force ignites the powder retarder, which ignites the powder firing charge along the central ignition tube. The latter throws the warhead of the mine out of the glass to a height of about 0.6-0.8 m. The triggering of the mine after bouncing occurs under the influence of an unwinding tension cable, one end of which is fixed to the bottom of the glass, and the second for an internal wedge-shaped lock that activates a fuse that undermines the warhead - this is one of the design differences from the American counterpart - the M16 APM mine, which uses a pyrotechnic moderator, and the OZM-3 version, which also uses a pyrotechnic moderator. If the mine has not taken off to the desired height, then the explosion does not occur at all, but the use of a tension cable increases the reliability of the ammunition. The defeat is inflicted by ready-made striking elements — 2400 rollers or balls.
For 2016, it is in service in Russia.