Futuristic 'Force Field' to Protect Armored Vehicles
Dirk Vander Ploeg
April 15, 2006
When Captain Kirk of the original Star Trek television series recognized danger to his ship and crew he ordered, “Raise shields and go to Red Alert!” The shields he was referring to were a series of force fields surrounding the “Enterprise”, designed to prevent an attackers’ deployment of armaments from penetrating the ship’s outer hull.
Gene Roddenbury, the creator of Star Trek envisioned many of today’s technologies forty years ago! Captain Kirk’s communicator is today everyone’s cell phone. Lasers are being tested and successfully used by the United States military. Teleportation experiments are being carried out by leading universities and identical protons are being beamed away only to occupy the same space and time. And now thanks to the combination of U.S. and Israel scientists military vehicles for the first time are being protected by “force fields” or as Captain Kirk would call them “shields.”
General Dynamics has successfully conducted Trophy Active Protection System Experiments at a Department of Defense (DoD) Test Facility on March 30, 2006. The news was released by the company on its website - generaldynamics.com.
The Trophy APS was designed in Israel by an industry consortium headed by the Rafael Armament Development Authority, Ltd. The APS is effective in preventing attacks on armored vehicles from rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and guided missiles.
A Stryker eight-wheeled combat vehicle equipped with Trophy was used to test the system. The tests included a live-fire demonstration for various U.S. and international military dignitaries. Trophy successfully detected, tracked and destroyed an incoming RPG while the combat vehicle was moving. Hundreds of similar tests were successfully conducted in Israel.
The Trophy active protection system creates a "force field" that literally surrounds the protected vehicle. An APS has three basic elements, including threat detection and tracking of approaching projectiles, the launching of and Interception of the projectiles.
Trophy’s “force field” consists of a barrier of invisible energy fragments (perhaps light particles charged by lasers) can sense incoming threats by recognizing heat signatures. RPG rockets and guided missiles give off heat as they approach their targets. These charged fragments are designed to destroy any incoming threat with low collateral damage, minimizing injury to troops and citizenry.
Armored vehicles equipped with Trophy are designed to operate in urban areas alongside infantry forces. Trophy is specifically designed to handle multiple attacks simultaneously from any direction whether the vehicle is stationary or on the move and is not effected by adverse weather conditions.
Trophy’s APS will be included in all Merkava Mk. 4 tanks and Stryker light armored vehicles. The Merkava is the main battle tank in service with the Israeli armed forces.
Car bombs and RPG attacks account for the majority of coalition deaths and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan today. RPG’s are capable of disabling tanks and a present Stryker combat vehicles.
This technology is in its embryonic stages and it may be years if not decades before APS can be used to protect airplanes, transportation vehicles and military personnel.
Remember the future begins in the next second, hour and day and it will be filled with wonderful surprises. It was only yesterday that personal computers, plasma televisions and ipods were just doodles on someone’s coffee napkin.
Gene Roddenbury, the creator of Star Trek envisioned many of today’s technologies forty years ago! Captain Kirk’s communicator is today everyone’s cell phone. Lasers are being tested and successfully used by the United States military. Teleportation experiments are being carried out by leading universities and identical protons are being beamed away only to occupy the same space and time. And now thanks to the combination of U.S. and Israel scientists military vehicles for the first time are being protected by “force fields” or as Captain Kirk would call them “shields.”
General Dynamics has successfully conducted Trophy Active Protection System Experiments at a Department of Defense (DoD) Test Facility on March 30, 2006. The news was released by the company on its website - generaldynamics.com.
The Trophy APS was designed in Israel by an industry consortium headed by the Rafael Armament Development Authority, Ltd. The APS is effective in preventing attacks on armored vehicles from rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and guided missiles.
A Stryker eight-wheeled combat vehicle equipped with Trophy was used to test the system. The tests included a live-fire demonstration for various U.S. and international military dignitaries. Trophy successfully detected, tracked and destroyed an incoming RPG while the combat vehicle was moving. Hundreds of similar tests were successfully conducted in Israel.
The Trophy active protection system creates a "force field" that literally surrounds the protected vehicle. An APS has three basic elements, including threat detection and tracking of approaching projectiles, the launching of and Interception of the projectiles.
Trophy’s “force field” consists of a barrier of invisible energy fragments (perhaps light particles charged by lasers) can sense incoming threats by recognizing heat signatures. RPG rockets and guided missiles give off heat as they approach their targets. These charged fragments are designed to destroy any incoming threat with low collateral damage, minimizing injury to troops and citizenry.
Armored vehicles equipped with Trophy are designed to operate in urban areas alongside infantry forces. Trophy is specifically designed to handle multiple attacks simultaneously from any direction whether the vehicle is stationary or on the move and is not effected by adverse weather conditions.
Trophy’s APS will be included in all Merkava Mk. 4 tanks and Stryker light armored vehicles. The Merkava is the main battle tank in service with the Israeli armed forces.
Car bombs and RPG attacks account for the majority of coalition deaths and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan today. RPG’s are capable of disabling tanks and a present Stryker combat vehicles.
This technology is in its embryonic stages and it may be years if not decades before APS can be used to protect airplanes, transportation vehicles and military personnel.
Remember the future begins in the next second, hour and day and it will be filled with wonderful surprises. It was only yesterday that personal computers, plasma televisions and ipods were just doodles on someone’s coffee napkin.