Precision Switching Products
& Linear Position Sensors
The future development of Active Protection Systems will be enabled by advances in sensors, software, materials, and smarter, more innovative munitions, and delivery systems.
Development targets for future APS will move beyond just RPG threats to tanks to include:
All of the above with countermeasures that are less lethal to friendly troops than current methods.
The concept of a barrier placed in the way of a deadly projectile is not new. This simple idea is extremely difficult to put into practical use however. Erecting a barrier just in time to deflect an incoming missile is virtually impossible given the timeline. Covering a vehicle or aircraft with armored panel barriers is impractical and cumbersome. But suppose there was a system that could launch a swarm of super-tough flexible barriers into the path of an incoming threat. Suppose this defensive barrier swarm could be aimed and launched almost instantaneously, in the time that it takes to blink while reading this.
This is the concept of the CPI Rocket Towed Barrier (RTB).
The CPI Rocket Towed Barrier combines two patented parts of CPI’s RPG missile defense approach. First is the “Rocket Towed Barrier” or RTB. This is essentially a munition containing a small parachute like barrier made of Kevlar or other material which deploys behind a short range rocket which tows it into the path of the incoming threat(s). The RTB system utilizes existing technologies in novel and effective combinations. The system does not rely on future technological breakthroughs, such as airborne lasers, nor does it embody unrealistic operating requirements such as “hitting a bullet with a bullet.
Second is the ARC system, a continuously rotating turret that can bring a wide variety of ordinance to bear on incoming threats, in a fraction of the time of current systems.
The RTB utilizes a variety of defeat modes which include fuzing, deflection, and flight disruption. Since defeat is not based on destroying the incoming threat, probability of successful countermeasure is greatly enhanced. Barriers can be configured as simply as a Kevlar shield, or can incorporate features such as decoy IR, planar cutting charges, or percussion charges.
The RTB system is non-fratricidal (no primary explosives or deadly hail of shot pellets). The system is much safer for situations involving dismounted troops or non-combatants. This presents a major advantage over other proposed systems like Trophy® and QuickKill.
CPI’s RPG missile defense system is the only APS effective against the RPG 30 decoy munition recently introduced by the soviets to defeat existing APS’s like the Trophy system. Decoy munitions are successful because the firing interval is too short for these systems to deploy an additional countermeasure. CPI’s RTB has the benefits of sustained presence (loiters) and wide-area screening. When delivered via our ARC system, multiple RTBs are presented in rapid succession, neutralizing even multiple simultaneous threats. (see video)
Contact Our Engineering Sales Team for More Information at (973) 887-9400.
