Active protection systems

Introduction

Update "Wind of Change" added active protection systems (APS) to the ground vehicles. These devices provide automatic defense against ATGMs. It is possible to shoot down incoming ATGM manually but it is very hard. There are two categories of APS:

• A softkill system will not destroy the incoming projectile but disturb its guiding system so that it will miss the target.
• A hardkill system tries to detect to projectile itself and destroy it by firing a defensive charge at the incoming projectile.

Electro-optical APS

Electro-optical APS (also known as "soft-kill APS" or "infrared countermeasures" (IRCM)) are a group of active protection systems that utilise light emitters to disrupt the guidance of incoming missiles.

Electro-optical APS acts on SACLOS-guided missiles that do not feature an electronic counter-countermeasure (ECCM) system:

• 3M7 (IT-1)
• 9M14-2 Malyutka-2 (IAR 316B)
• 9M17M Falanga (Mi-4AV, Mi-24A)
• 9M112 (T-64B, T-80B)
• 9M113 (BMP-1, SPz BMP-1, BMP-2)
• 9M114 Shturm (Shturm-S/Russian helicopters)
• 9M120 Ataka (Mi-35M, Mi-28N)
• 9M120F-1, 9M220O (Shturm-S)
• 9M311, 9M311-1M (2S6)
• 302 (Object 122MT "MC")
• ACRA (AMX-30 ACRA)
• AGM-12B Bullpup (H-34)
• AGM-22 (UH-1B, UH-1C)
• AS.11/SS.11, RB 52
• BAe Swingfire (Swingfire, Striker)
• BGM-71A TOW/RB 55, BGM-71B TOW/RB 55B, BGM-71C I-TOW
• Fireflash (Swift F.7)
• HJ-8A/C/E/H (Chinese helicopters)
• HJ-73E (ZBD86)
• HOT-1
• HOT-2
• HOT-3 (EC-665 Tiger HAD, HAP, UHT)
• Kh-66 (MiG-21PFM)
• MGM-51B (M551, M60A2)
• MGM-51C (XM-803, MBT-70, KPz-70)
• MILAN/MILAN 2
• RB 53 Bantam (HKP3C)
• Roland 1/2/3 (FlaRakPz 1, Roland 1, FlaRakRad)
• Type 79, Type 79 ASM (Type 89)
• VT1 (FlaRakRad, ItO 90M)

Missiles that utilise a different guidance system (e.g. MCLOS, laser, TV) as well as SACLOS missiles with ECCM will be unaffected by the operation of an electro-optical system.

AN/VLQ-8A

It is a IRCM type jammer.

Vehicles equipped with AN/VLQ-8A:

• M1A1 HC

MUSS

MUSS (Multifunktionales Selbstschutz-System, engl. Multifunction Self Protection System) is a IRCM softkill APS. When a laser is pointed at the vehicle MUSS will pop smoke grenades to make laser guidance harder. Against other ATGM it will use IR light to confuse the targeting system of the attacker.

Vehicles equipped with MUSS:

• PUMA

Shtora-1

Vehicles equipped with Shtora-1:

• T-80UK
• T-90A

JD-3

Vehicles equipped with JD-3:

• ZTZ96A (P)

EIREL

Vehicles equipped with EIREL:

• AMX-30B2 BRENUS

Hard-kill APS

Drozd

Drozd is a constantly active APS which provides protection against a wide variety of threats. It is composed of three major pieces: a Doppler radar array for target detection, charge launchers on the sides of the turret, and an electronics piece on the turret's rear. It detects targets in front and engages them inside a 7 m distance. The main disadvantage of this system is that it follows the direction of the turret, meaning it can only successfully destroy targets that in the line of sight.

Drozd can be used while on the move (although the turret must be facing the target as stated before). While on the move (especially horizontally), the detected ATGM has a risk of escaping the activation range of the Drozd. When moving towards an enemy who fired an ATGM, it will be affected by the APS but due to momentum, the ATGM can still damage the tank even when destroyed. Drozd must have a clear line-of-sight with the enemy threat (at least APS must be exposed).

Vehicles equipped with Drozd:

• T-80UM2
• T-55AMD-1

Iron Fist

Iron Fist uses a AESA Radar to find projectiles fired towards the vehicle and shoots a little bomb to deflect it.

Vehicles equipped with Iron Fist:

• Black Night

Trophy

Vehicles equipped with Trophy:

• Merkava Mk.4M

Media

Videos

The Shooting Range #296 - Tactics & Strategy section at 08:21 discusses active protection systems.

External Links

• [Devblog] Hard-kill active protection systems in War Thunder
• [Wikipedia] Active Protection System