US Army Dusting Off Volcano Mine Dispensers: The US Army is dusting off mine dispenser systems it originally used in the 1990s because it sees an important role for them against near-peer adversaries now and in the future.
The Volcano system can turn a vehicle or a helicopter into something like a Pez dispenser for mines. Volcano was used prior to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has laid relatively dormant during the last 15 years of war in the Middle East because the Army did not see a role for it there.
But the systems didn’t go away entirely. A 2012 video posted to YouTube shows the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade stationed at Seoul Air Base in South Korea training and qualifying to use the air Volcano mine system. Volcano was deployed there to serve as a deterrent to North Korean advances, allowing a large amount of land mines to be dispersed quickly.
Now, according to the service's Training and Doctrine Command's Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC), the Army plans to resurrect Volcano as a key capability within Cross Domain Fires, one of its top six modernization priorities.
