- Title: ISRAEL/UK/FILE: New defence system stops rocket strike on Israeli tank
- Date: 15th March 2011
- Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - MARCH 9, 2011) (REUTERS) CLOSEUP OF JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (English) NICK BROWN, EDITOR OF JANE'S INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE REVIEW SAYING: "There was an Israeli tank that had a missile fired at it, that was successfully intercepted by Trophy for the first time. So they now know for certain it works, because despite years and
- Embargoed: 30th March 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel, United Kingdom
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Defence / Military,Science / Technology
- Reuters ID: LVABU05A3J7LEG70PI4UXNRYPDC8
- Story Text: The Israeli army recently announced one of its main battle tanks, fitted with a new defence system, had successfully defeated a rocket propelled grenade fired at it on the Gaza border.
After its first operational success, the Trophy Active Protection System (APS) could give Israel a tactical advantage in any future conflicts with Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon or Palestinian armed factions in Gaza.
Trophy was first fitted to Israeli Merkava-4 main battle tanks two months ago after a period of testing. The system uses a set of radars attached to the turret of the tank to scan the local area for threats such as anti-tank launchers and also incoming missiles. If a missile is fired at the tank, one of two launchers fires counter measures to destroy the incoming threat.
"Each vehicle is fitted with a radar system that constantly scans around the vehicle, looking for incoming missiles or incoming rocket propelled grenades and if one of those is detected it warns the crew and automatically sets up one of the two launchers that are fitted to the Merkava main battle tank which the Israeli defence force use. One of those counter measure launchers is trained in the direction of the incoming missile and fires a stream of explosively formed projectiles into the path of the missile to destroy it at about ten to thirty metres away from the vehicle," said Nick Brown, Editor of Jane's International Defence Review on Wednesday (March 9).
The first operational success of Trophy will strengthen the Israeli army's belief in the system.
"There was an Israeli tank that had a missile fired at it, that was successfully intercepted by Trophy for the first time. So they now know for certain it works, because despite years and years of testing there is always a level of insecurity until you see the system working for real and it worked," Nick Brown said.
Lebanon's Hezbollah group is said to have a large stock pile of Russian-made Sagger (AT-3) and Kornet (AT-14) anti-tank missiles, which it used to deadly effect in 2006.
"One of the big killers for the main battle tanks and the armoured vehicles that went into Lebanon was the fact that all the (anti tank) launchers were hidden, so missiles would pop up out of nowhere and destroy tanks as they were driving across the open desert. And the new system, Trophy, will actually detect those launchers and point out their locations to the crews of the tanks so they return fire fairly rapidly," added Nick Brown.
Although Trophy is seen as a defensive system for tanks, the active radar pin points the location of missile launchers, allowing the armour to engage the threats. The system has the ability to track six targets simultaneously and will automatically engage incoming threats according to priority.
The APS system is only a defence against missiles and rocket propelled grenades, tank fired munitions and improvised explosive devices will still leave tanks vulnerable. Each launcher fitted on the turret can fire six times before needing to be reloaded by the tank crews.
In 2006 before the Trophy system was employed, Israeli armour was left exposed in Southern Lebanon. Hezbollah managed to destroy or disable some three dozen tanks, more than 10 percent of the total force deployed. This setback to its armoured force shocked the Israeli army.
"The Sagger missiles (AT-3) and the Kornet missiles (AT-14) really hammered the Israeli armour (in Lebanon), they lost an awful lot of vehicles and although they are some of the most heavily protected armoured vehicles in the world, there is only a certain level of protection, you can't protect against every single threat and so they didn't do terrible well," Nick Brown said.
The Rafael made Trophy system is one of a number of active protection products available for armoured vehicles, with companies in Germany, Sweden and Russia developing similar systems. The United States military recently finished a six week evaluation of the Trophy system for possible deployment on its armoured forces. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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