AVOIDANCE-In order to prevent damage, the deliberate act of a potential mine target maneuvering around a mine or a minefield after the mine or the minefield has been identified.

BOTTOM MINES-The nonbuoyant mines that lie on the bottom of the ocean awaiting actuation by a target. In NATO terms, this mine type is referred to as a ground mine.

CHANNELIZATION-In mine countermeasures, the term applied to the tactic of creating a passage through a minefield during a breakthrough operation.

CLEARING-The level of mine countermeasures effort required to sweep, hunt, or otherwise neutralize, to a high percentage, the mines in a field, whether of a certain type or totally.

COVERAGE-The percentage of an area that has received some level of specified sweep effort.

DELAY ARM-The feature on a mine that causes it to arm only after a specified period of time has elapsed.

DESTRUCTOR (DST)-The bottom mines that use 80-series bombs as the case and the explosive charge.

HARASSMENT MINES-The mines specifically set to target sweepers or to enhance the psychological danger of a minefield.

MINE NEUTRALIZATION-The action taken to render a mine harmless.

MINE SENSITIVITY-The characteristic of an influence mine or a circuit that describes its liability to actuation by an influence field.

MINE WATCHING-A method of countermeasures involving visual observation of the emplacement of mines during delivery.

MINEFIELD LENGTH-The dimension of a minefield that is parallel to the anticipated target track. The transit distance through the minefield.

MINEFIELD PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE (MPO)-The purpose of planting a minefield is to sink, damage, interrupt, and/or delay enemy maritime traffic. An MPO expresses the qualitative goal of a minefield and describes the broad objective that the minefield is expected to accomplish (such as port closure, attrition, antipassage, blockage).

MINEFIELD WIDTH-The dimension of a minefield that is perpendicular to the anticipated target track.

MINESWEEPING-The use of mechanical or influence techniques to counter mines along a sweep track.

MOORED MINES-A mine that has a buoyant case maintained at a predetermined depth by means of a cable attached to an anchor.

PENETRATION-The act of entering a minefield, either to transit or to sweep that field or area.

PRIMARY TARGET-The class of target that has been identified as the principal concern and against which the minefield is planned.

PSYCHOLOGICAL THREAT-The unquantifiable effect a minefield has on the enemy, based on the enemy's perception of its danger.

REPLENISHMENT-The number of mines scheduled to be delivered to replace those mines expended in the minefield after the initial planting.

SHIP COUNT-A countermeasure on a mine that prevents firing the weapon until a specified number of actuations have been achieved.

THREAT-The probability that a minefield will inflict a specified level of damage on a target ship attempting to transit that minefield.

WATER DEPTH-The distance in feet, meters, or fathoms from the ocean floor or the river bottom to the surface of the water.