Drozd/ERA

[Vespers War]

I have another "does anyone have any information about this" question. While looking at old Soviet prototypes, a writeup of Object 490 mentions it was supposed to have a "Shtandart" active protection system. This is a royal pain to search for online because it means Standard. I've seen mentions of it in discussion of Object 195 (the "T-95") as well, but that's all I've found. Does anyone know of any technical information about the system?

The Object 490 writeup also mentions it was intended to use Gofr ERA. Allegedly Gofr is the basis for Serbia's ERO-19 ERA on the M-84AS1, and (again allegedly) it's roughly equivalent to Relikt.

[Higgipedia]

Originally Posted by Vespers War

I've seen mentions of it in discussion of Object 195 (the "T-95") as well, but that's all I've found. Does anyone know of any technical information about the system?

I don't but maybe it's the Arena system that replaced the Drozd system or the Afghanit system that replaced Arena.

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by Higgipedia

I don't but maybe it's the Arena system that replaced the Drozd system or the Afghanit system that replaced Arena.

It's possible they're developmentally linked, but Shtandart was mounted totally differently from other Soviet APS systems. Where Drozd, Arena, and Afganit all use tube launchers mounted under the turret, Shtandart on Object 490 had 10 tubes mounted vertically along the rear hull in two rows of five on either side of a 30mm secondary turret, six on the horizontal surface of the hull rear facing rearward*, and ten more scattered around the hull sides and front corners. It clearly wasn't operating on the same principles as Arena or Afganit that slew the turret to face the projectile and then fire directly at it, since none of the launchers were on mobile mounts.

I did find an allegation that it could intercept at least some tank rounds, which Arena can't do (and the jury is out on whether Afganit can), but that seems very questionable for a system developed in the 1980s. Regardless of whether it could intercept tank rounds, the vertical mounts would have been useful given the development of top-attack missiles like TOW-2B, Tank Breaker/Javelin, NLAW, and Spike.

*the tank was designed to drive backwards during road marches, so that's less absurd than it originally sounds since ambush attacks would have a higher prevalence of attacks on the forward-facing rear of the tank.

[Raellus]

I'm not sure how this one got past me, but the Russians have fitted ERA to cope cages, first appearing on the battlefield back in April (if not before).

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