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To: Star Traveler
The same sort of system is deployed to a limited extent on Russian tanks, apparently including a batch sold to India rather than being restricted to Russian military alone.

This is an old idea though really, seriously studied with various alternatives having been tested since the Yom Kippur War was analyzed at least. Sturdy, reliable, sensors and electronics having been the bottleneck until mid-eighties. At that point the cost per vehicle became the main consideration. It came down to money compared to how real the threat was considered to be and when the threat was real enough it was sure to be deployed by anyone would could afford it.

Russians have considered the threat very real since WWII but not so severe that it couldn't be defeated by having more infantry with their tanks. Urban warfare becoming more common rules that solution out to a degree, so they started extensive testing of such systems in the late eighties. The few tanks fitted with one of their systems performed well in Chechnya leading Russia to start widespread retrofitting albeit at a slow pace, or at least so I've heard.

There were multiple systems tested in both Russia and the US that I know of, probably in other countries as well. A friend in AL who works with the M1 says kits to fit a system like this to both the M1 and Bradley as well as M113s are already available but weather that means designed and tested or sitting in a warehouse waiting for the order to install them, I have no idea. Even reactive armor kits would be a major improvement on the M113. They melt like solder, splashing aluminum around when hit from an angle that isn't lethal (given the fact they're a shoebox, it's surprising how often they were hit from a bad angle in VN and not penetrated)

Obviously Israel can do what we and the Russians can when it comes to armor and most other weapons systems as long as they're willing to spend the money. The Russian system is known to work and work well it's just not been deployed to any great extent. Whether their system can be easily fitted to APCs and such, I don't know.

14 posted on 07/25/2014 5:12:19 AM PDT by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory.)
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To: Rashputin

Proactive armor.


21 posted on 07/25/2014 6:07:21 AM PDT by IronJack
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To: Rashputin

The Russian Drozd system didn’t do all that well in Afghanistan and Chechnya. The Shtora IR jammer did better, but obviously doesn’t work against TOW type, radar guided or unguided missiles. Their latest stab at it is the Arena protection system, but it hasn’t been in combat yet that I know of.


26 posted on 07/25/2014 6:49:01 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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