Posted on 09/05/2006 6:53:40 PM PDT by ruptured duck
WASHINGTON - Rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, are a favorite weapon of insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are cheap, easy to use and deadly.
RPGs have killed nearly 40 Americans in Afghanistan and more than 130 in Iraq, including 21-year-old Pvt. Dennis Miller.
“They were in Ramadi, and his tank was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade,” says Miller’s mother, Kathy. “Little Denny never knew what hit him.”
Sixteen months ago, commanders in Iraq began asking the Pentagon for a new system to counter RPGs and other anti-tank weapons.
Last year, a special Pentagon unit thought it found a solution in Israel — a high-tech system that shoots RPGs out of the sky. But in a five-month exclusive investigation, NBC News has learned from Pentagon sources that that help for U.S. troops is now in serious jeopardy.
The system is called “Trophy,” and it is designed to fit on top of tanks and other armored vehicles like the Stryker now in use in Iraq.
Trophy works by scanning all directions and automatically detecting when an RPG is launched. The system then fires an interceptor — traveling hundreds of miles a minute — that destroys the RPG safely away from the vehicle.
The Israeli military, which recently lost a number of tanks and troops to RPGs, is rushing to deploy the system.
Trophy is the brainchild of Rafael, Israel’s Armament Development Authority, which has conducted more than 400 tests and found that the system has “well above [a] 90 percent” probability of killing RPGs and even more sophisticated anti-tank weapons, according to reserve Col. Didi Ben Yoash, who helped develop the system.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I can't imagine the price tag?
They say $300K-$400K
Seems like a difficult problem to overcome..technically that is.
It sounds like a great way to tear up dismounted infantry around the armored vehicle.
Was he 6 years old when she signed him up?
I would think that a shotgun might be usefull in exploding the RPG before it hits.
Lots of little Dennys were shreded when they rode Shermans to war.
The first I've heard of this was tonight on NBC Nightly News (it was pretty much the same info as in the MSNBC article). The test that was shown seemed very controlled, with only the vehicle mounted with the Trophy system and a single RPG fired at it while it drove along in a straight line. Nothing else around in the test area.
Not really, as long as you can deal with the really short response time. At least not for a single incoming round. Multiple, it gets dicier fast.
Essentially the same system concept, a ballistic missile defense system, is impossible according to the demoncrats.
I think the big difference between the Israeli system available now, and the Raytheon system which might in place, is the ability to avoid hitting US dismounts around the vehicle.
Raytheon will promise to keep US dismounts safe from our anti=RPG weapons. The Israeli system makes no such claim, to my knowledge. This would lead us to "Spam in the can" tactics, rather than the dismount heavy approach that is used in the Stryker vehicles now.
Yup. the rolling Ronson wasn't very survivable.
Ah, its in the article. Page 2.
Trophies — which cost $300,000-$400,000 each
The article says the Israeli system works 98 percent of the time and is available now rather cheap...The Army balked because they have a $70 million contract with Raytheon to develop a system. This is a no brainer...buy the Israeli system now.
I've heard of carpet bombing! It's relatively inexpensive in cost and American lives. It is extremely effective, just axe Dresden or Tokyo.
Q. How do you win the hearts and minds of brainwashed slaves of satanallah?
A. High explosives and lots of them
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