The L9 bar mine entered British service in 1969. A number of sub-variants of the mine exist, designated
L9A1 through
L9A8. It was replaced as an anti-tank mine in British service (by the
Shielder minelaying system) in 2010. The bar mine was used by small detachments of
special forces of the British Army during the
Gulf War in 1991. A number were captured from Kuwaiti Army stocks by the Iraqi Army in 1990, and subsequently used by them in the same conflict. It was reported that they disabled a number of
M60A1 Rise Passive Patton tanks and other armoured vehicles belonging to the
United States Marine Corps, even when these were fitted with mine-clearing ploughs. Unless the plough struck the mine squarely in the centre, the mine would often be rotated into a position in which it would pass between the tines of the plough, then blow up the track and front roller of the tank. The British Army has since been using bar mines simply as breaching
frame charges, for instance to blow holes in tough compound walls in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among other users have been Denmark, where it was introduced as the
Pansermine M/75, with the mine plough towed by the
M113 armored personnel carrier. In 1989 an electromagnetic FWAM fuse replaced the original fuse as
Pansermine M/88. Both mines have since been taken out of use. ==Theft from MOD train==