Its detonated by a small remote control which has four buttons marked A,B,C & D on it. the idea is that you can run 4 claymores on the one controller. But as i mentioned theres times (although not always) when you press all four & nothing happens & thats happened on both of mine plus one a mate had. But you could also put it on its back & use it as a sort of pressure plate mine, or theres a small hole in the safety catch to put through a piece of string or wire & as soon as the wires touched..Bang! The main problem on them is the firing mechanism or catch that holds the front in place. The more you use it the more this becomes prone to going off when you least expect it..when youre right next to it setting it up!