The IDF Ground Forces Command has declared the Trophy anti-tank missile defense system operational, following a series of tests last week that surpassed expectations for the system's capabilities, it was revealed on Thursday.Ah, Israeli engineering.
The Trophy system, developed by Rafael, creates a hemispheric protected zone around armored vehicles such as the Merkava tank, which operated prominently in Lebanon. The system is designed to detect and track a threat and counter it with a launched projectile that intercepts the anti-tank missile.
The test was held last week in an IDF base in the South. The system was installed on old tanks and was tested in two positions - static and in motion. According to defense officials, it succeeded in intercepting all of the enemy anti-tank missiles.
....While the Trophy will be installed on tanks, the IDF recently announced plans to equip the Namer armored personnel carrier with the Iron Fist missile defense system, developed by Israel Military Industries.
The Iron Fist consists of a radar and passive optical system that detect incoming threats and destroy them by using a combustible blast interceptor within a fraction of a second. Unlike the Trophy, which fires off a large number of projectiles, the Iron Fist intercepts incoming threats by using a rocket in the shape of a mortar, which destroys the threat by using a blast effect that crushes its soft components or deflects the missile or kinetic rod in flight.
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Friday, August 07, 2009
Now, that's a cool tank
Israel unveils its new tank.
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I hope it is as successful as the manufacturer claims but these things seldom are. Nevertheless, it is no doubt a step in the right direction of added protection for armored fighting vehicle crews.
There have been other similar devices on drawing boards around the world over the years and the prototypes never saw mass production because of sensor failures, among other things. You have to realize that when fighting is going on all around you that there are a lot of things happening that will either trip sensors by accident or blind them, such as fires, flares, weather and dust.
Another consideration is that your friendly dismounts (troops on foot) around your AFV are very vulnerable to devices like Trophy. You cannot operate AFVs in an urban environment without dismounts in a mutually supportive role. Imagine that a tank is moving slowly down a narrow street with dismounted infantry closely move alongside to clear houses, buildings and rubble. Firing an old RPG at the tank, that by itself posed no threat to the tank, will now trigger a defensive countermeasure that will spray some of those friendly troops with projectiles. I think the tank commander operating in close quarters with dismounts is going to have to disable a system like Trophy.
Iron Fist sounds significantly different but probably still poses a serious threat to unprotected friendly troops near the threatened AFV.
Israel was the first to push reactive armor out in the West and it has it's value but obviously it was not the solution it was touted to be or we wouldn't be looking for the answer to 2nd and 3rd generation ATGMs, single and volley fired RPGs, and EFPDs/IEDs today.
Tanks are not fortresses and no fortress is impenetrable. Tanks and other AFVs depend more on mobility than protection for their success on the battlefield. Pressing forward with them as rapidly as possible - staying on offense - is the best protection from all threats.
The Israelis and General Dynamics, who have been testing Trophy on Strykers and Bradleys, claim that the missile because it launches vertically and hits the target directly, not like the Patriot in close proximity, should keep "...collateral damage," to a minimum. It sounds like so far the testing has only been conducted while the IFV or APC is moving and 360 degress coverage is used.
But unforseen consequences always show up, usually fatally to those either firing or using the piece of military equipment. Being forced to use half charges on the Dahlgren cannon for years during the Civil War or only using one engine on the F-4 Phantom because of the danger to the pilot when using two.
You know, just the same, I might like to have a civilianized version of one of these things when driving around the DC area. Yellow lights mean "drive faster" and Red lights mean "I'm coming through!".
I'd want the Stryker itself on Route 95 in Northern Virginia but I'd promise to stay in the HOV lane.
I hope you do not have a 16-year old daughter learning how to drive. Yikes!
There should be a requirement that nobody under the age of 40 be allowed to operate a motor vehicle of any type in the DC area. Oh yeah, it would also help if they could read (especially english), see the color red, and to have seen snow before (some place other than on TV) being issued a license.
I'm not kidding about that last one. People drive straight off the roads around here when a rare snow fall occurs, regardless if it accumulates!
Don't get me started on merging, blocking intersections, and cellphones in one hand and a latte in the other. "Officer, I was using both knees!"
You have no idea.
Forgot you live in CA. I withdraw the last line of my previous comment. And substitute coke for snow.
Why is anyone rejoicing in armaments acquired by a foreign country?
It's like you are putting the interests of foreigners above Americans.
Anyone who is in a position where they might be tempted to do that should be fired at once. There's been a long history of people ratting out the USA to Israel.
Michael,
What are you trying to say? Are you saying that Israelis should not be allowed to defend themselves? Are you suggesting that Betsy should be fired from her own blog?
Please explain!
General Dynamics is a foreign company?
"There's been a long history of people ratting out the USA to Israel."
Detail?
"It's like you are putting the interests of foreigners above Americans."
These systems were offered to the USA. However, US industry thinks they can come up with something better.
It is a pity the US military will have to wait until the design is completed, tested, bid, contracted, tested, produced, tested, and finally installed into fighting vehicles.
davod,
Please see my comments about previous efforts. We've done this before and the technology of the day didn't support the concept. As a former tanker, I can tell you that a lot of the technological breakthroughs that seem so ideal in the test bed and in trials, don't pan out in field conditions, let alone on the battlefield.
I'm glad there is a cooperative effort here and I think the goal will someday be achieved but in the meantime, it is important not to saddle troops with defective equipment. There are many other less technical countermeasures available to defeat the latest generations of HEAT warheads on ATGMs and RPGs. Explosively formed penetrators, essentially an IED delivered HEAT round of enormous proportions is a cheaper, more effective, and more frequently encountered threat. It should be getting the priority of effort.
If the Israelis can make this work then I'm onboard but I don't think it's there yet.
I did a little more research on Trophy and it turns out while the GD tests were on stationery vehicles the Israelis did test on moving vehicles. But the main difference is that the US tests were in closed urban areas were the ballistic arc too to long while the Israelis proved that in the open, without dismounted infantrymen, worked quite well.
I still want a pair of those Oakleys that the Iraqi kids were convinced let the user see through burqhas.
Oakleys?
All I got were these crummy Wiley X Goggles/Sunglasses...but then I was surrounded by a lot of Navy types most of the time, so in light of the X-ray Oakley's "enhanced" capabilities, the Wileys did protect my eyes.
Good point, I saw quite a few CPOs and Navy lifers in the Philippines and the prospect of being able to see through clothes makes me gag!
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