Israeli Missile Defense System Blasts Threats With Liquid Metal

[Kenjitsuka]

Very impressive.
But using superheated liquid metal to destroy targets is so 1994.
A burst of hot copper shreds any and all battle tanks.
Which was proven/introduced 17 years ago

 

[loc978]

What sort of tank has to worry about Rocket Propelled Grenades?(ok, so the tracks are a weak point, but it's not really a problem otherwise is it?).
How much damage can the do?
Otoh, it seems a great system for lighter armoured vehicles, and also for taking out missiles, and HEAT rounds.
Is this new though?
Wasn't this shown over a year ago on the Discovery Channels Future Weapons?

A tank doesn't really have to worry about RPGs, but ATGMs are a real threat. e.g, in the 1973 yom kippur war (Israel vs egypt and syria) something like over 70% of israeli tanks destroyed were taken out by ATGMs (the Sagger wire guided missile specifically) and many western observers (mistakenly) declared the death of the tank.
And was probably still in the test phase when it was on future weapons, its now fully operational, and boy does it look sweet.
The switch from detection to nuetralisation looks nice and swift too, which was pleasantly surprising.

A tank actually does have to worry about RPGs... not in the sense that it can pierce armor and kill anyone in the tank (because it can't)... but what an RPG can do is immobilize a tank by making it throw a track.
The tracked vehicle equivalent of shooting out a tire with a 9mm, basically.

This new system looks like some crazy sci-fi to me, though... I'd love to see how it really works.

 

[R Man]

Very Interesting. I wonder if the technology could be used for defense of static positions such as bunkers? Would it even be worth it?

Nevertheless these things always show their product at its best so I would not be surprised if it had a few faults that are not yet evident. It never quite works perfectly in reality.

 

[Calbeck]

A tank actually does have to worry about RPGs... not in the sense that it can pierce armor and kill anyone in the tank (because it can't)... but what an RPG can do is immobilize a tank by making it throw a track.

There's much more that an RPG can do, actually...if not particularly reliably.

Taking out sensors, radio antennae and periscopes is one. A direct hit on a periscope can also wound or even kill anyone looking through it at that moment. Sponson boxes and their contents (tools, spare oil and sometimes extra ammo) can be destroyed since they're not made of heavy armor. Other weak points, varying between models of tank, can be exploited to knock out engines, battery boxes, and/or NBC filtration systems.

A smart, well-trained soldier, even with a weapon as relatively weak as an RPG, can do a lot of damage to a tank. Fortunately, the insurgents are generally neither.

 

[gigastar]

Sounds... useful.

I could use that to pave the way for something totally overkill.

On the one hand, this is yet another existentially grim leap in mankind's endless race to utterly annihilate itself in as innovative a fashion as possible.

To be honest im surprised there even are 6 billion humans on the plannet.

A smart, well-trained soldier, even with a weapon as relatively weak as an RPG, can do a lot of damage to a tank. Fortunately, the insurgents are generally neither.

I lol'd at that.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Would this system not be defeated by multiple incoming targets from all directions.
And they say they can defeat heat rounds but from what distance would these rounds have to be fired from for the system to work since most rounds go over 1500 Mps. Urban combat this would be a useless system against an enemy tank.

 

[Rebel44]

Would this system not be defeated by multiple incoming targets from all directions.
And they say they can defeat heat rounds but from what distance would these rounds have to be fired from for the system to work since most rounds go over 1500 Mps. Urban combat this would be a useless system against an enemy tank.

If EFP (ammo for Trophy) is placed into firing position it might be effective even against HEAT rounds fired from short distance (few hundered meters or even less) - technical data are secret, so we most likely wont know answer for some time (iz depende entirely on how fast is cycle from detection to detonation of countermeasure).

Reload time is from 0.2 to 0.4 second.

Also to people who think that RPGs dont pose danger to modern tanks - they do, because not every RPG is decades old RPG-7. Russians sold plenty of newer versions of RPG (like RPG-29) which are much more powerfull.

 

[Ranubis]

Did anyone else think while reading this headline that israel is now a few more steps towards a Thanix Cannon?

Thanks Cannon, version 1.0!
Bring it, Reapers!

 

[Ranubis]

Double post, sorry.

 

[Kurokami]

That's cute and all but the enemy will always adapt.

From Sun Tzu, avoid strength attack weakness.

You know what that RPG is still really good against? The truck carrying the fuel for the tank. Or the bar where the tank drivers like to hang out. Or house where the tank commander's family lives.

The best defense is avoiding making an enemy who would want to fire on your tanks in the first place.

Right, so while I drive this tank over to your base you can try and try and find my favorite bar/fuel station.

Not saying you're not right, but that's not exactly a defense against an imminent attack. And most wars don't exactly welcome people from the other sides to their soldiers' favorite hangout places. It's all nice and well to quote a dead guy, but to expect everyone and their mother to be able to follow such nicely worded instructions in reality is sort of like watching a movie and thinking everyone should pull of those clever heists.

Nevertheless these things always show their product at its best so I would not be surprised if it had a few faults that are not yet evident. It never quite works perfectly in reality.

Pretty much how I feel.

 

[Grahav]

These tanks are broken! Must be nerfed.

 

[chris11246]

These tanks are broken! Must be nerfed.

na most likely they'll just buff the infantry

I love how almost no one is talking about the defense system and are having a debate about either how this could be used to kill people or just having a debate isreal

 

[thiosk]

DARPA has been doing this for some time. I was fairly certain they already had deployable technology some time ago.

 

[bladeofdarkness]

3 main mistakes in that story.

1)Trophy isn't just in prototype stages, its already fully operational - every single new Merkava MK4 tank that rolls of the production line is equipped with a system as a standard feature.

2)It doesn't just work on RPGs, but also against ATGMs and tank heat rounds. - basically, anything that gets fired at a tank and isn't an APFSDS.

3)the system is entirely protective, it only prevents the deaths of the tank crews - so theres not much in it about mankind's ability to destroy itself.

that aside, since when does a VIDEO GAME site focus on real world weapons technology ?

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

I love how the majority of posters here already know so much about modern weaponry.
Also, I don't exactly understand how the hot metal can shred missiles, but do no damage to nearby friendly infantry.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I love how the majority of posters here already know so much about modern weaponry.
Also, I don't exactly understand how the hot metal can shred missiles, but do no damage to nearby friendly infantry.

Can't tell if the first part was sarcastic or not. Anywho, it...isn't safe for nearby infantry. Then again, tanks don't usually have compliments of soldiers dry humping the sides of it during an operation.

Shoulda put "Blasts innocent civillians with liquid metal"

Seriously screw Israel, They should put all the money we give them into Improving themselves rather than hurting others.


Lovely weapons system though, I just wish the good guys could be the ones to invent it

...Uh...that's so...I don't even know where to start with this.

It's not a weapons system, and it isn't even designed to be used as a weapon. It's an automated defensive system. Unless civilians suddenly turn into grenades that can fly at supersonic speeds and heat up to 1000C, then I'm pretty sure it isn't going to fire on them.

Edit: The last two things were uneducated guesses on my part. I tried looking up the stats on a RPG-7 round, but couldn't find it.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

snip

All I'm saying is that if I'm an infantryman and there's a friendly tank around, I'm going to stay close to it.

 

[Kopikatsu]

snip

All I'm saying is that if I'm an infantryman and there's a friendly tank around, I'm going to stay close to it.

The best way to take down a tank is explosives, and RPG-7's only cost 300 USD with ammo being about 35 USD per round. So it's very possible that they have hundreds of RPG-7's...

I would stay as far away from the tank as possible.

 

[Funkysandwich]

snip

All I'm saying is that if I'm an infantryman and there's a friendly tank around, I'm going to stay close to it.

The best way to take down a tank is explosives, and RPG-7's only cost 300 USD with ammo being about 35 USD per round. So it's very possible that they have hundreds of RPG-7's...

I would stay as far away from the tank as possible.

It's always a good idea to maintain a healthy distance from anything that has a high chance of being shot at with explosives of any kind.

 

[bladeofdarkness]

the system is mounted on the top of the turret (over 2.5 meters tall) and fires at the direction of an incoming RPG or Missile, creating a relatively narrow beam of fragmentation.

the fragmentation HAS to be narrow enough, and the spread of the projectiles has to be small enough to ensure that at least SOME of the fragments can hit a target smaller then a dinner plate as far as 20 meters away from the tank.
its about as focused as a shotgun blast.

as a result, the danger zone for friendly infantry is rather small, and considerably smaller then what would happen if you stand a few of feet away from the tank when its gets hit by an RPG.