Players in Battlefield 4 can drop a variety of persistent items: mines, medic bags, ammo boxes, recon spawn points, etc. How long do those items persist in the world? Do they last beyond player death?
From casual observation it seems items persist as last as long as the item isn't destroyed by weapon damage and as long as the player doesn't change loadout. Ie: I can drop an engineer AT mine, get killed, and the mine will still be in the world as long as I keep spawning as an engineer with AT mines. (This behavior is the only way a Recon respawn beacon could be useful!) But I'm not confident it works that way consistently with all persistent items, particularly medic bags, the recon T-UGS, etc.
Best Answer
I did some testing by myself in the Testing Range on Xbox 360, killing myself via grenades or various hilarious helicopter mishaps and then seeing what persisted after respawn. Here's what I learned:
Despawns on death: First Aid Pack, Medic Bag, Ammo Pack, Ammo Box, C4.
These disappear when you die, no matter what loadout you choose next. These may persist until you respawn, I couldn't test that by myself. The C4 is a bit weird; it occasionally lasts a second or two after respawn and if you're fast enough you can even detonate your last spawn's C4. My guess is a timer starts to remove it when you die.
Persists as long as equipped: EOD Bot, MP-APS, Radio Beacon, T_UGS, SOFLAM, MAV, Mortar, AA Mine.
These stay in the world where you placed them after you die, and you can respawn and re-connect to them. If you remove them from your loadout or change kits they disappear.
Persists forever: M15 AT Mine, M2 SLAM, Claymore.
These stay in the world where you placed them even if you spawn with a different kit. Note that there are limits to these items, like only 3 mines of each type. If you drop a 4th mine the 1st despawns.