US to deploy RPG-busting 'force field'

Classified Israeli tech bound for Iraq

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Science, 12th April 2006 00:02 GMT

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The US is to field test an innovative Israeli set-up designed to act as a "force field" around armoured vehicles, protecting them from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and anti-tank missiles, according to a Fox News report.

The system, dubbed "Trophy", uses radar to track incoming threats and then destroys them when they're in range by attacking the warheads with an "invisible force", according to Fox. Quite how it does this is, unsurprisingly, classified, but Defense Update understands Trophy is "designed to form a 'beam' of fragments, which will intercept any incoming HEAT threat, including RPG rockets at a range of 10 metres to 30 meters from the protected platform".

The countermeasure is, then, actually physical - a fact confirmed by Defense Update, which explains the system has "an automatic reload mechanism to handle multiple attacks", although that's about as specific as it gets.

The sceptical among you should note that Trophy has allegedly completed "hundreds of live tests with the Israel Defense Forces and demonstrated effective neutralisation of anti-tank rockets and guided missiles, high safety levels, insignificant residual penetration, and minimal collateral damage".

Trophy is claimed to be effective against several simultaneous threats from different directions, whether the protected vehicle is stationary or moving, and in all weathers. According to Fox, Trophy will soon get a chance to strut its stuff in Iraq. ®

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