Leopard 2A7A1 with Trophy
The Indian Army has invited an expression of interest for procurement of armoured fighting vehicles protection and counter measure systems for the T-90S Bhisma tank fleet; 818 such systems are to be procured. T-90 tanks are the mainstay of the mechanised forces and are likely to remain in service beyond 2050. The fleet is to be periodically upgraded to meet the futuristic war fighting capabilities. Currently there are many projects ongoing to modernise Russian origin tank fleet and to combat obsolescence firepower, protection and situational awareness are to be enhanced. An active protection system currently is the most potent way to protect an armoured vehicle from the enemy HEAT projectiles. World’s first operational active protection system Drozd was developed by Soviet Union in late 70s. Since then many nations have developed APS successfully. As the Indian Army is witnessing the rapid change in armoured warfare to defeat new threats, in lieu of heavier armour to protect their assets have turned towards cutting edge solutions for the protection. At the moment only the T-90S Bhisma fleet (while light tanks too to get similar upgrades) is desired to be equipped with a potent system. The active protection system with 360° coverage must brave adverse weather situation and should be in working situation during temperature ranging from -5° C to +45° C. A light system with maximum weight of 1000 kg is desired with a service life in excess of 3000 hours. It must have both the Soft Kill and Hard Kill capability.
The Soft Kill capability should provide an audio visual warning on being laser tagged or engaged by a hostile system and will use decoy or smoke to defeat it. It must be able to defeat or at least degrade in-coming anti-tank guided missiles (laser/ IR/Radar guided) by means of electro optical signals and IR jamming. The hard kill system must be capable of defeating all kind of incoming anti-tank guided missiles and 125 mm HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) rounds, rocket propelled grenades and smaller anti-tank shells from rocket launchers by means of intercepting and defeating or at least degrading their lethality. Capability to intercept enemy KE tank rounds (APFSDS) by upgrading the system in future is desired as well. The safety parameter has been given utmost importance. The radiation from the system must be low enough and danger zone must be small enough for protection of dismounted troops. As use of counter systems and means to fool APS is gradually increasing, Indian Army wants a system immune to such jamming and capable to identify “false projectiles” (i.e splinters, artillery shells, small arms).
Afghanit on T-14
Development of indigenous Active Protection System was announced some years ago under Make-II category. The idea was to develop a potent system consist of both the Soft Kill and Hard Kill capability to defeat HEAT rounds and future KE rounds as well. The timeline for commencement of development envisaged as 2022 while procurement would be in phased manner. In some past years many Indian companies have made partnership with foreign OEM to offer an Indian customised version of the system. In the late 90s when T-90 came first time to India for trials offered with Shtora 1 active protection system. However, it was a soft kill platform. The EO/IR dazzlers help in defeating incoming enemy missiles. Russia has now developed two newer APS with hard kill capability. First one is Arena. Unlike Shtora it releases 26 projectiles once the multi-function Doppler Radar detect an incoming threat. However as the shortcomings of the developed systems like Drozd, Drozd 2 and Arena was coming forward through experience of Afghan War and Chechen Wars, Russia started to develop an advanced new generation APS resulting Afghanit. Afghanit includes both soft kill and hard kill capability. And soft kill capability is claimed to be capable of defeating even top attack ATGMs (ex- Javelin). While hard kill capability is achieved by intercepting incoming threats with large caliber projectiles. This system is capable of defeating KE threats as well. But currently this system is fitted with only T-14 MBT and T-15 AFV. A new variant of Arena series, Arena 3 is developed for export purpose which is light and gives 360° coverage without any hindrance. Unlike its predecessor it overcomes several shortcomings. The LEDS from SAAB Avitronics was displayed at DefExpo 2016 on board a T-90 model. At the time it was announced that TATA Power SED would manufacture large part of this system in India and would steer marketing it for domestic use. Two years later Rafael showcased a T-90 model equipped with Trophy active protection system. Besides Elbit Iron Fist has also been offered to India. As the threat against the armoured vehicles are increasing day by day, nations around the world have started delevoping several APS to protect their platforms. Varta and Zaslon from Ukraine, Pulat and Akkor from Turkey, MUSS and AMPADS from Germany, Quick Kill and Iron Certain from US, GL5 from China are worth mentioning. Trophy currently is the most successful active protection system around the world and is fitted on three main battle tanks- Merkava Mk. IV, M1A2SepV3 and Leopard 2A7A1. Pakistan has been offered Varta APS by Ukraine. Besides China is using GL5 on two of its platforms- Type-99 and Type-15. Obviously, India does not want to lag behind in the race of modernisation and hence started working in full swing. Hopefully, this time a solution will come out.
Sankalan Chattopadhyay (Twitter @vinoddx9)