Blazer.

This is coolbert:

As long as I am on the subject of armor, here is an entry on reactive armor.

First developed by the Israeli. As has been mentioned many times in previous blog entries, the Israeli ordnance department is way out in front of the rest of the world in weapons development. Innovative thinkers that DO come up with some good stuff.

[In the photo accompanying this blog, the tiles plastered to the sides of the tank all over the place are the reactive armor. This tank is a U.S. M60 tank upgraded by the Israeli. New gun, new engine, new electronics and aiming systems, better ammo, and voila', you got a bad assed tank that is of an old design. The M60 was an improvement over the M48 tank. They are both of the same family [the Israeli refer to this family of tanks as "Magach"]. The M48 of course was first designed in 1948. That is almost sixty years old!! Old but dependable and a factor to be taken into account still on the battlefield.]

Go here or here to see interesting articles on the Magach series of tanks.

Reactive armor is another approach to defend armor vehicles against the shaped charge weapon. Such as the rocket-propelled-grenade [RPG].

Is an explosive armor??!! Detonates, the reactive armor does, upon impact of a HEAT round as fired by the RPG. Detonates and dissipates the pencil thin jet of extremely hot gas generated by the shaped charge. The dissipated hot gas is not able to penetrate the armor.

"Explosive Reactive armor (ERA) is a common form of add-on armor, used on many Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFV). This concept is combat proven. Protection by explosive modules was deployed by the Israel Defense Forces in the late 1970s, and was first, and successfully used in combat with the Israeli Army M-60s and Centurion tanks in the 1982 War, and later, by the Russian Army by the mid 80s. Reactive armor utilize add-on protection modules conforming of thin metal plates and a sloped explosive sheath, which explode when sensing an impact of an explosive charge (such as High Explosive Anti-Tank - HEAT projectile)."

As simple as that.

This is in accordance with the demonstrated Israeli ability to take a basic weapon system, say a M48 tank, and improve that vehicle in a way the original designers never could have anticipated. Allow for a much enhanced weapons system that has an effective life span far beyond what was originally ever conceived.

Reactive armor, such as that going by the Israeli trademark "Blazer" has been adopted by militaries all over the world. Older vehicles are retrofitted with reactive armor for greater protection, and the incorporation of reactive armor into NEW vehicles is a design consideration from the start. As with the Stryker vehicle for instance.

Here is another good photo of reactive armor on a "Magach" tank. Again, those tiles on the turret and the front of the tank are the reactive armor.





Reactive armor is a means that allows a good anti-bang for the buck.

coolbert.