Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Yeah...about those Active Protection Systems for our armored vehicles.



AbramsTanker reminded me of the Raytheon Quick Kill System and it suddenly dawned on me that I had written about that system earlier this year.  Click here to go that article but a juicy tidbit....
But the RPG-29 is in essence old tech. Check out the RPG-30..again via Wikipedia...
The RPG-30 shares a close resemblance with the RPG-27 in that it is a man-portable, disposable anti-tank rocket launcher with a single shot capacity. Unlike the RPG-27 however, there is a smaller diameter precursor round in a smaller side barrel tube, in addition to the main round in the main tube. This precursor round acts as a false target, tricking the target's active protection system (APS) into engaging it, allowing the main round a clear path into the target, while the APS is struck in the 0.2-0.4 second delay it needs to start its next engagement.[1]The PG-30 is the main round of the RPG-30. The round is a 105-mm tandem shaped charge with a weight of 10.3-kg (22.7-lb) and has a range of 200 meters and a stated penetration capability in excess of 600-mm (24-in) rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) (after ERA), 1500-mm reinforced concrete, 2000-mm brick and 3700-mm of soil.[1] Reactive armor, including explosive reactive armor (ERA), can be defeated with multiple hits into the same place, such as by tandem-charge weapons, which fire two or more shaped charges in rapid succession
Its easier to develop destructive devices than it is to build protective ones.

This is sealing the deal for me.  The IFV concept (as practiced in Western Armies) is a threat to Infantry.  The Armored Personnel Carrier is the future (at least in uncontaminated areas), and Marines/Soldiers are going to have to get used to the idea of being transported short of the objective and assaulting on foot...hopefully with supporting fire from their rides, but on foot nonetheless.


2 comments :

  1. RPG-30 is vastly overrated. Any system that can track and discriminate multiple targets will be able to overcome it via either ignoring the dummy rocket or killing both.

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  2. The Israelis claim they created a counter to RPG-30. Via Wikipedia, "defense system called the "Trench Coat" that can counteract the RPG-30, by utilizing a 360-degree radar to detects all threats and, in the case of one, launch 17 projectiles, one of which should strike the incoming missile."

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