ADS in action.
Posted on 10/09/2009 8:06:47 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
It was named one of Time magazine’s best inventions of 2008, but Raytheon’s Active Protection System (APS), formerly known as “Quick Kill,” was nowhere to be found on the floor of the Washington Convention Center at the Army’s annual conference this week. I asked the Raytheon folks about its status and the best they could come up with was that the program is “maturing”; there was no APS on display nor were there videos showing field tests of the system.
By contrast, over at the Israeli Military Industries booth, the Israelis were showing video of their “Iron Fist” APS in action and displayed the launcher, jammer, interceptor round, radar and infra-red sensors. IMI’s Rami Sokolower, director of business development, proudly told me Iron Fist was recently chosen by the Israeli Defense Forces to outfit the “Namer” heavy infantry fighting vehicle, a personnel carrier based on the Merkava tank chassis, some 600 of which are in IDF service.
From personal observation, U.S. government officials from one of the nation’s larger arsenals were clearly interested in Iron Fist and were engaged in lengthy conversation with the retired Israeli generals at the IMI booth. .
(Excerpt) Read more at dodbuzz.com ...
That is cool technology.
It is.
Given Barry’s questionable methods of diplomacy with Israel, no doubt that these discussion are Barry approved?
The U.S. Army would like Iron Fists and TROPHYs on their Abrams, M113s, Bradleys and Humvees.
Are these able to take out one of our M1-Abrams? Sorry, I didn’t read the whole thing.
Israel lobby in action. Those darn Jews! They figured it out again! I’m kvetching here.
I believe the U.S. Army gave Raytheon a contract to develop a APS and they could not produce one.
IMI’s Iron Fist is also classified as a hard kill – although it includes soft kill electro-optical jammers – but instead of using shrapnel to shred an incoming round it relies on blast pressure waves to deflect and break apart the round, resulting in less collateral damage and making it much safer for troops that might be accompanying the Namer on foot, said Sokolower. The laser jammer is said to be effective against second generation anti-tank guided missiles.
I've always been skeptical of APS manufacturer claims that they can intercept a 120mm sabot round, as the velocity of those rounds is so high. Sokolower said the Iron Fist's blast wave will deflect the long-rod penetrator just enough so that it “yaws” and thus hits the vehicle at a poor angle and won't completely penetrate thick steel armor. The Iron Fist's APS rounds are carried in twin launchers fitted to each side of a vehicle linked to RF and passive Infrared sensors which the company claims provides full 360 degree protection.
And now a word from the comments section, regarding Israeli company issues:
pennst98 · 9 hours ago
No. I mean they have repeatedly built in problems to their devices and inserted codes into their software that they can activate later. Can't say more.
While they do have a tendency for exaggeration (like the Russians) for their capabilities, they do have some really brilliant weapons that we should be investigating. But as i said their past problems make it hard to transition some of their technology.
Oh, almost forgot don't forget their propensity to sell technology regardless of ITAR regulations......
TROPHY has a 98 percent success rate( so the IDF says)
Spending to outfit this sure beats having a shaped charge come into your vehicle uninvited.
Thank you very much for the link. Its very interesting.
This is defensive equipment. It jams or physically intercepts and destroys an incoming rocket/artillery round, preventing it from hitting the defender.
This is defensive equipment. It jams or physically intercepts and destroys an incoming rocket/artillery round, preventing it from hitting the defender.
>
Then if we keep the technology to ourselves, we’ll be OK.
Thank you.
Israel is quickly becoming not only the best in the World when it comes to intelligence services but in R&D for their military. I think our military industrial complex is going to lose their grip on military aircraft next, especially with the colossal failures of the F-35 and (to a lesser extent) the F-22.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.