"The original ADS was borne to counter mostly shaped charge systems, such as missiles of rocket propelled grenades, however as reaction times showed the system could also deal with KE projectiles, it was developed also to cope these which are of course the most critical threats, and which use has come back to surface with peer to peer confrontations becoming reality.
KE tungsten penetrators leave the MBT gun muzzle at around 1,800 m/s, their optimal aerodynamic configuration allowing them to lose a minimal part of that speed, under 10%, at 1,000 meters distance, less than 20% in terms of reduced energy delivered on the target. However the aim of the hybrid armour is to avoid that energy to reach the target.
The radar is used as a pre-warning system to detect the incoming threat and wake-up the system, data provided to the Central Information Management (CIM or ADC – active defence controller) allowing its identification and classification. Should it be considered non-threatening, for example a small arms round, no action would be taken, however if it is classified as a threat identification is carried out, chemical energy or KE mostly based on projectile velocity, and the point of intercept hence the timing of ignition of the countermeasure are calculated, the electro-optic sensor providing confirmation.
As said, the most critical threat is that coming from large KE penetrators, therefore we will mostly concentrate on those.
Comparing videos and images provided by Rheinmetall, which in the last three years worked intensely on optimising its active protection against long rods, it was possible to note that while initially the penetrator was destabilised and tilted by a limited angle, the latest images show it broken into pieces, usually three, sometimes four, with those residual elements impacting the armour surface at high angle, often well over 45°. According to unspecific sources, this allowed reducing the penetrator effectiveness up to 75%, results having been proved in numerous tests, our source pointing out that a further optimisation work is ongoing.
RPS being working both on active and passive solutions, it is well placed to fully optimise the passive component to cope with residual effects caused by APS when intercepting the threat. These include not only blast events or incoming solid materiel but, in the case of shaped charges, also non detonated explosive. In case the shaped charge managed to detonate albeit not in the optimal way, due to for example to early initiation, the passive armour has to deal with this. Residual effects are not categorised in the AEP-55 publication, and since one year RPS is working with 10 different categories of such effects. The company found that these can be applied both for distributed systems, such as the Strike Shield, as well as for launcher-based systems, however the feeling is that in real cases residual effects generated from the latter would considerably differ."
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IAV Conference: Rheinmetall details its hybrid armour solution
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"This passed functional acceptance tests in October 2021 after two years of development, under close supervision of the German Bundeswehr quality and assurance bureau, which worked together with its Hungarian counterpart. Following those tests, carried out against single- and tandem-shaped charge projectiles (a specific Hungarian requirement), the Magyar Honvédség decided to acquire the hybrid armour package for nearly the whole fleet.
Tests for tank application were intensified at the beginning of the current decade, development work being carried out in cooperation with the Bundeswehr.
The reference threat in the KE domain is the Russian BM-42 125 mm APFSDS round, which 570 mm tungsten penetrator weighs 4.85 kg and has a muzzle velocity of 1,715 m/s. EDR On-Line understood that tests were carried out also with western 120 mm rounds fired at 200 meters distance, which allows simulating a higher velocity on target typical of state-of-the-art and/or future threats. According to information obtained, further tests and demonstrations should be carried out in 2023."
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