Drozd/ERA

[Legbreaker]

This from the V2.2 BYB page 216:

Reactive Armour Blocks: Reactive armour blocks are special explosive charges fitted to the outside of an AFV for additional amour protection. These blocks detonate when hit by a round larger than 35mm in diameter and the explosion is directed outwards interfering with HEAT type warheads on rockets, missiles and grenades. Reactive armour has no effect on kinetic energy penetrators (those rounds with AP).
Reactive armour blocks may be applied to the turret front and sides, and the hull front of any AFV which as the appropriate attachment lugs installed. Installing these lugs takes welding equipment and 1 manhour per unit of armour. Reactive armour adds 80 to the AV of the protected face. Some vehicles come with attachment lugs already installed (the vehicle card will say if this is the case).
Each unit covers one tenth of an armour face, and is destroyed when activated. The number of units destroyed on any given face is the D10 roll to hit an unprotected part of the armour face.

[Ronin]

Sweet. Big thanks Leg Breaker. I owe you now.

[ArmySGT.]

Active Protective Systems.

The first operational active protection system [APS], named Drozd, was developed by the Soviet Union between 1977 and 1982. This system was installed on some 250 naval infantry T-55As (redesigned T-55ADs) in the early 1980s, and was designed for protection from ATGMs and antitank grenades. It used primitive millimeter-wave radar sensors on each side of the turret to detect incoming rounds. A filter in the radar processor was intended to ensure that the system responded only to targets flying at speeds typical of ATGMs. These are engaged by one or more short-range rockets carrying fragmentation warheads (similar to mortar rounds), fired from four-round launchers (one on each side of the turret). Drozd provides maximum overlap and protection only to the forward 60� portion of the turret, leaving the sides and rear vulnerable. The tank crew can change the orientation of the system by rotating the turret.

Drozd suffered from several shortcomings. Its radar was unable to determine threat elevation levels adequately, and the self-defense rockets would almost certainly have caused unacceptably high levels of collateral damage � particularly to accompanying dismounted infantry.

Citation

[Ronin]

Nice article link. Im not a big fan of the soft kill systems. They do generally protect against the big boys of ATGM world. (TOW, HOT, MILAN, and etc.) But, any grunt with a straight rocket, still can mess you up. Which Russians learned in the Chechen Wars. Shtora failed miserably there. Mainly because they were faced with unguided munitions. This helped prompt the development of the Arena system. The Israelis were developing a similar hard kill active system (Iron Fist). But I believe have dropped the project. I personally think this is a mistake.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by Ronin

Nice article link. Im not a big fan of the soft kill systems. They do generally protect against the big boys of ATGM world. (TOW, HOT, MILAN, and etc.) But, any grunt with a straight rocket, still can mess you up. Which Russians learned in the Chechen Wars. Shtora failed miserably there. Mainly because they were faced with unguided munitions. This helped prompt the development of the Arena system. The Israelis were developing a similar hard kill active system (Iron Fist). But I believe have dropped the project. I personally think this is a mistake.

Nope, the Israeli's have kept up with a hard kill system (can't recall the name whilst at work sadly) that has entered service, as well as passing the only tests that matters against both guided systems as well as RPGs.

[Vespers War]

I'm performing some thread necromancy because I've been reading up a bit on ERA and Hard Kill systems as part of looking at the Armata and wanted to both provide and solicit ideas.

ERA is relatively easy to model, since it adds to armor in particular situations. Early ERA adds only to HEAT, while more modern ERA also protects against KE. Here's what I've been able to find (stats are for v2). Most of the numbers come from manufacturers, so take them as best-case optimistic numbers.

Blazer (1982): An Israeli ERA used on Centurion, M48, M60, and T-55 tanks. Adds 40 to AV vs HEAT. Adds 1,000 kg to vehicle weight.

Kontakt-1 (1984): Early Soviet ERA, used on T-55, T-62, T-64, T-72, and T-80 tanks. Adds 80 to AV vs HEAT. Adds 1,200 kg to vehicle weight.

Kontakt-5 (1985): A heavy ERA, used on T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks. Adds 100 to AV vs HEAT and 60 to AV vs KE. Adds 2,800 kg to vehicle weight.

Relikt (2006): Relikt is an upgraded heavy ERA used on the T-72, T-80, and T-90. Adds 200 to AV vs HEAT and 160 to AV vs KE. Weight unknown to me.

I don't have numbers for Super Blazer, and don't have good numbers for Malachit (the new ERA on the T-14).


Hard Kill systems:

Drozd (1978): Used by the Soviet Navy for their T-55 tanks. Uses a sensor array at the rear of the turret and a total of 8 107mm HE rockets to shoot down incoming rounds. Approximately 50% successful, but can only protect the 60-degree arc that the turret is facing. Cannot be used with ERA. Weighs approximately 1000 kilograms.

Arena (1992): Shown mounted on T-72 and T-80 tanks, it was developed after Chechen combatants used RPGs to destroy tanks equipped with the Shtora passive anti-missile system (which relied on jamming sensors the RPGs didn't have). The system has 26 projectiles and protects roughly a 300 degree arc everywhere except the rear of the turret. Approximately 55% successful, though success is defined as halving the penetrative capability of incoming HE or better. Cannot be used with ERA. Weighs 1100 kilograms.

Trophy HV (2010): An Israeli system used on Merkava 4 and Namer, and set to be installed on M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams. Used a pair of launchers, each with 3 rounds. Claimed to be nearly 100% successful in recent use. Weighs 850 kilograms. Newer versions are lighter, but I have little information on the MV and LV.

As with the ERA, I know there are other systems out there (Afghanit, Akkor, Quick Kill, etc), but don't have much information on them.

ERA is pretty easy to model, given the existing rules in the core book and simply modifying them based on the AV for the specific type of ERA in use. How have people integrated hard kill systems into their games?

[swaghauler]

Don't forget all the bolt-on/addon armors like TUSK.

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by Vespers War

Trophy HV (2010): An Israeli system used on Merkava 4 and Namer, and set to be installed on M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams. Used a pair of launchers, each with 3 rounds. Claimed to be nearly 100% successful in recent use. Weighs 850 kilograms. Newer versions are lighter, but I have little information on the MV and LV.

Update: Trophy MV has been replaced by/renamed to Trophy VPS, which is 480 kilograms but claimed to be equal to Trophy HV in performance, with the weight savings largely coming from replacing the 2007-2010 era electronics with more modern equipment. VPS is being tested on Stryker along with Rheinmetall/UBT's StrikeShield. Leonardo DRS has also apparently done testing of the system on an M113 (which makes me wonder why they haven't also tested it on an M2, because I know they have one).

Also, the overall system weight for HV is about 2.5x what I listed (it's described as "around 5,000 pounds" in an article about testing). I assume what I grabbed was the weight for each launcher, and there's some extra weight for sensor or processing or other gribblies, so the VPS should probably be multiplied by the same amount for overall system weight, so roughly 3,000 pounds. There's also mention of increased capacity with autoloading systems, but (reasonably if somewhat disappointingly) nothing that I could find giving the total capacity.