Posted on 08/29/2017 5:14:54 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
RAFAEL ADVANCED DEFENSE SYSTEMS presents its 360-degree protection of for army vehicles against RPGs.. (photo credit:RAFAEL/SCREENSHOT)
After years of testing Israel’s Trophy active protection system, the US Army is close to giving the green light to having it installed on the M1A1 Abrams tank.
The US Army would then be the first army outside the IDF to use the system.
Maj.-Gen. David Bassett, who is in charge of the US Army’s programs in the area of ground combat systems, was quoted by the DefenseTech website as saying that he plans to make the decision on the system as soon as possible.
“We’re very close to a decision on the Trophy system,” he said, adding that “we’re looking to make those decisions rapidly so that we can spend money in the next fiscal year,” he said.
The estimated cost of the Trophy system per tank is $350,000.
With American troops operating in theaters such as Syria or Iraq, the US has understood that ground forces and armored vehicles are sitting ducks without any active protection systems.
Designed to detect and neutralize incoming projectiles, the Trophy system has four radar antennas and fire-control radars to track incoming threats such as antitank guided missiles (ATGMs) and rocket-propelled grenades. Once a projectile is detected, the Trophy system fires a shotgun-type blast to neutralize the threat.
The Trophy Active Protection System (APS), developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries’ Elta Group, has been installed on Israel’s Merkava tanks since 2009 and is the only fully operational and combat-proven APS in the world.
It has also been installed on the IDF’s Namer heavy infantry fighting vehicle and the IDF’s new armored personnel carrier, the Eitan, which is set to enter operational use for infantry battalions in the coming year.
Apart from the Trophy system, the US Army is also considering two other active protection systems – the Iron Curtain, developed by the American firm Artis, and Iron Fist, designed by Israel Military Industries.
IMI’s Iron Fist uses a radar to detect, track and intercept incoming RPGs and antitank missiles among other threats to the vehicle and its crew. In addition, the system can also identify the source of the fire.
The Iron Curtain APS system was developed to neutralize incoming enemy fire at extremely close range.
According to the company, Iron Curtain can be integrated onto any ground vehicle platform, as well as rotary-winged aircraft, watercraft and fixed sites, such as buildings.
But unlike the Trophy system, both Iron Fist and Iron Curtain have not been operationally proven.
“One of the things that makes acquisition go faster is by picking things that don’t require as much design,” Bassett is quoted as saying, adding that he is “not interested in developing; I’m interested in delivering.”
According to the report, Bassett ultimately envisions “a brigade’s worth of capability of Trophy on the Abrams,” one of the most heavily armored vehicles in existence.
The Trophy system received its “baptism by fire” on March 1, 2011, when it neutralized an RPG antitank rocket which had been fired from a short range toward an IDF Merkava Mark-IV tank close to the border with the Gaza Strip. The system has since proved its efficacy in several operations, especially during Operation Protective Edge, where IDF tanks were able to operate in the Gaza Strip without suffering any losses.
Question for those with more knowledge than me.
If a projectile can be intercepted and destroyed or deflected before it hits the target does that mean a vehicle wouldn’t need as much armor or potentially, any at all?
This fires pellets. Not sure it would be effective against large caliber guns.
My guess is this is just for RPG’s. RPG’s are much slower than anti-tank guns.
Protection from heavy guns still require armor. They may not need exploding armor, but it doesn’t weigh that much so having a secondary layer can’t hurt.
This only protects against mostly shoulder fired weapons. It will not protect a tank from another tank.
It does seem like an urban combat vehicle could be at least armored differently if RPGs were mitigated. If no enemy tanks were likely, then you basically armor up for rifles and machine guns. Might be a lighter platform.
Not just shoulder fired, but ATGMs as well, by my read. Agreed it will not protect from a tank main gun tungsten penetrator.
The warheads on anti-tank missiles are shaped charges. A shaped charge creates a highly-directed stream of molten metal that burns through armor. What the pellets from Trophy do is hit the missile and explode it in a non-controlled way, so the the shaped charge stream doesn’t form. So what you have is a nearby explosion, which tanks are proof against, vs. that stream of molten metal.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaped_charge
The Trpophy “shotgun pellets” would have little to no effect on a high-velocity tungsten penetrator fired from a modern tank gun, even if they did manage to hit it.
“The estimated cost of the Trophy system per tank is $350,000. “
Tat’s penny cheap compared to the life of a US Soldier/Marine
Reminds me of one of the proposed defense weapons in Reagan’s Star Wars initiative. An incoming missile would be ranged by our technology and our counter missile would explode a cloud of pellets at it, much like a shot gun blast.
It would decrease the need for pin point hits according to the theory and be much cheaper to develop.
More than 30 years since its introduction, and despite the several upgrades to its armor, there now are chemical energy weapons that can defeat the armor of the M1 tank. It’s still pretty much invulnerable to all known kinetic energy weapons, which is one reason the Sovie ...I mean the Russians have delved so heavily into improving their chemical energy weapons.
One of their new weapons is basically a double-barrel RPG-7, which shoots both its missiles to the same point of impact. Which means it also can defeat reactive armor, because the first missile detonates the explosive armor at the spot where the second missile also will impact.
With current technology, the only way to defeat such a weapon is to prevent it ever hitting the tank. Which is the function of these Israeli systems. Fortunately, the warhead on a chemical weapon is impact-sensitive, so they’ve built sensors that basically throw a rock at it and hope to get if off before it impacts on the tank.
Wonder how well it does against volley fired RPGs from multiple directions?
here we go yo
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“Wonder how well it does against volley fired RPGs from multiple directions?”
Better than not having it.
No. There are layers of defense, like an old castle.
You have the armor.
You generally have some sort of metal grid system some distance from the armor.
Then you have an active system like this.
The grid and the active system are for RPGs and anti-tank missles. The idea is things blow up a bit early and the resulting (very nearby) explosion is deflected by the armor.
A kinetic weapon (i.e., a cannon) would defeat this, but hopefully be stopped by armor.
It’s a constant evolution.
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