FORCE PROTECTION

The Indian Army faces an urgent need to equip Main Battle Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles with advanced Active Protection Systems to counter modern threats and enhance battlefield survivability. The lack of such systems could be addressed with the combat-proven Trophy APS, writes ATUL CHANDRA

- ATUL CHANDRA

The Indian Army has fallen behind its peer militaries in equipping its Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Main Battle Tanks (MBT) with Active Protection Systems (APS). This is an operational lacunae that needs to be urgently addressed, as the lack of APS leaves these platforms vulnerable to strikes by modern Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM), drones and loitering munitions. The Indian Army presently has over 5,000 T-90S, T-72M/M1 and BMP-IIs in service. Unfortunately, none of these platforms are equipped with an APS, despite the search for such a system being underway for quite a while now. The army is thought to have a requirement for over 800 APS’ for fitment on its T-90S ‘Bhishma’ MBTs. These MBTs are likely to remain inservice beyond 2050 and badly require to be fitted with an APS and a Remote Controlled Weapons Turret (RCWS). APS solutions are designed to enable the system to detect and declare a threat, deploy counter-munitions, and disrupt/ defeat the threat. It is also known that the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing an indigenous APS, however the technology is known to be extremely difficult to master. Active protection measures can be grouped into two categories: Hard Kill and Soft Kill. Soft kill measures make use of sensors that can detect signatures from weapons and then interfere with them using electro-magnetic countermeasures. Hard kill systems make use of physical countermeasures (blast or projectiles) that destroy or divert the incoming rounds. A Modular Active Protection System, (MAPS) combines both.