#breakingnews

APS : The protection MBTs need

Armoured Fighting Vehicles are currently protected by passive and reactive armour solutions. However, they are still not effective against latest generation anti-tank ammunitions with top attack capabilities. Therefore, its required to develop new innovative solutions to provide survivability against ever-increasing lethality of anti-armour threats as the weight of the current generation tanks have already reached the limit. Active protection systems (APS) should be able to neutralise/ defeat the incoming threats before they hit the tank by automatically acquiring, tracking and responding with countermeasures kinetic or explosive means to neutralize anti-armour threats.

3000 APS for Infantry combat vehicles

Back in February 2021, The DAC has cleared a proposal to upgrade protection levels of over 3,000 armoured fighting vehicles, including main battle tanks and infantry combat vehicles. The defence ministry has cleared indigenous weapons programs worth over Rs 13,700 crore, including acquisition of a modernized version of Arjun battle tanks and increasing protection levels for over 3,000 armoured fighting vehicles currently in service. Indian Army is planning to equip 13-14 armoured regiments with Active Protection Systems (APS) with hardkill capability. As per the proposal, all the capital acquisition contracts, other than design and development projects, must be completed in two years. This decision will help to FastTrack the procurement process and address the need of our armed forces.

DRDO’s APS

As many of you would be aware DRDO is working on an Active Protection System for the main battle tanks, however the progress has been very slow. The project started way back in 2015. It has also been reported that the DRDO has already developed the Active Protection Systems, which use a laser warning system for Arjun Mk-2 which is now being called as Arjun Mk-1A as there is going to be no Mark2 variant of the indigenous tank. However, the requirement of APS has increased from just being using Laser warning system to be able to detective the anti-armour projectile using Infra-red and Radars.

DRDO is attempting to develop an APS that will have multispectral sensors including radars and laser sensors to cover a wide variety of threat velocities or anti-tank ammunitions ranging from speed of 70 – 240 m/sec. The system should have engagement range from 50 to 150 m, and quick reaction time to effect neutralization before 50 m.

The system should be able to intercept targets accurately when the armoured vehicle is in both static and dynamic conditions, should be safe for nearby troops and issue audio/visual warning during activation of counter measures, .

Latest Development

In last few months we have observed good progress in APS development.

In April 2022, DRDO’s Lab LRDE has released an RFI for the Active Protection Radar. This Radar will be used to detect and automatically track anti-tank rockets, anti-tank guided missiles and tank rounds. The Active Protection Radar is the key element of the Active protection system which can be installed on main battle tanks and Armoured Protection carriers for the early warning against the anti-tank ammunition fired. It will have 360-degree coverage to detect the top attack anti-tank munition. The radar along with the hard kill measures can be used to protect the tank and its crew members.

Recently, LRDE has issued another tender for the ‘Ballistic Protected Enclose with Radomes’ for the X-Band radars of DRDO’s Active Protection System with protection of STANAG Level 3.

Astra Microwave has won the contract for APS components development from DRDO has told that the APS development is in progress and they will hand over the system to DRDO by end of FY 2023. Post this the DRDO APS will undergo “No-Cost, No-Commitment (NCNC)” trial which may take another 1-2 years to clear for production.


Join this channel to get access to perks:
   / @indiandefenseanalysis  

**WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
Most of the pictures clip or BGM included in the Video
Belongs to their Respected Owners and we do not claim rights.
We are using them under following act:
UNDER SECTION 107 OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT 1976, ALLOWANCE IS MADE FOR "FAIR USE" FOR PURPOSES SUCH AS CRITICISM,
COMMENT, NEWS REPORTING, TEACHING, SCHOLARSHIP, AND RESEARCH. FAIR USE IS A USE PERMITTED BY COPYRIGHT STATUTE THAT MIGHT
OTHERWISE BE INFRINGING. NON-PROFIT, EDUCATIONAL OR PERSONAL USE TIPS THE BALANCE IN FAVOR OF FAIR USE.
Follow us on social media:
  / analysisdefense  
https://indiandefenseanalysis.com/

==============THANKS FOR WATCHING!================
PLEASE LIKE SHARE & SUBSCRIBE: "INDIAN DEFENSE ANALYSIS"

Music: Eternal Garden - Dan Henig