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Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently
Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System

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shoeless
12/01/08

In reply to Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently
There is already a type of armor to defeat to defeat shaped charge penetration rounds: slat/bar/cage armor.
This ia already used on the Stryker. It works by destroying the projectile a safe distance from the vehicle so that it's energy can not be concentrated enough to penetrate.

[www.defenseindustrydaily.com]
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
12/01/08

@shoeless: But wouldn't the first round deform/destroy the "cage", leaving an open door for the following projectile?
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
12/01/08

In reply to Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently
Yeah, but can it kill the Grimace?
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yoshi
12/01/08

In reply to Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently
Russia is no joke. These guys are on the move toward the western world. They've sold Russian helicopters to Venezuela. They are helping Venezuela build a nuclear reactor. They are doing naval exercises of the coast of Venezuela. They are drilling for oil of the Gulf of Mexico. AND they are putting a base in Venezuela. All of this is being done because our military is way over extended and we've elected a President with absolutely no experience.

Obama has his work cut out for him. That's for damn sure.
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ripfire
12/01/08

In reply to Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently
Too late for the Russians. We're already developing laser-based defenses.
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SouthendXGF
12/01/08

In reply to Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently
ok, I think this could really be useful in human form too - I could have a little midget run into a room 2 seconds before I enter, and no one would focus any attention on me, allowing me to pass through undetected. I'm adding this to my ninja arsenal. plus, midgets are just funny.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
12/01/08

@SouthendXGF:
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timak
12/01/08

In reply to Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently
So they are building weapons that defeat the defenses of their own tanks. I guess it saves their enemies the trouble.

What is the deal with the Russian officer hats? The bigger they are the higher the rank? Or is it like cars in this country, merely an extension?
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Serolf Divad
12/01/08

@timak:

It's a brilliant move actually, if you're selling weapons to both sides.

And as for the hats: you can make them as high as you want, but if they don't have a spike on top or horns on the sides, they'll never be maximum cool.
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twoeightnine
12/01/08

@Serolf Divad: It's a brilliant move actually, if you're selling weapons to both sides.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Sell your old tanks to your opponent and then blow them up real good.
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EVEs_Mako
12/01/08

In reply to Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently
In the Obama world, we no longer need tanks.
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G.O.D.
12/01/08

@EVEs_Mako: The Soldiers and Marines will all be riding Unicorns firing rainbows from peace pandas. So no kind of out dated Russian rocket will stand up to that.

I think were on the M1 A3 anyway and from my experience tanks, usually traveling in packs of 5, do just sit and get fired at. Nor do all the support crew, infantry, and various other grand war machines and trained fighters that are accompanying them.

Some of the Depleted Uranium rounds we used in Africa could punch a hole through any type of armor we encountered but not the M1. They should be afraid, very afraid.

One more thing check out a Fléchette Round. Now that's fun for the whole family
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Purple Dave
12/02/08

@Hiroak:
Best story I ever heard about the M1 was that in either Desert Shield or Desert Storm one of our Abrams got disabled, and when the crew called in to request field repairs, they were told that it would take too long and that they should scuttle the tank. That's supposed to be accomplished by blowing the ammo bay, but when they did that, they discovered that the Abrams ammo bay is designed to blow outwards (so as to protect all the squishy meaty bits inside should something go _WRONG_). A little while later, a repair crew showed up and had the thing running again in no time.

The easiest way to take out an Abrams is probably to "turtle" it, and even that won't really destroy it.
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Gann
11/21/08

In reply to Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System
I want to set one of these up to scare the piss out of the paperboy.
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Kaspir
11/21/08

In reply to Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System
I pity the first kid that throws a good sized rock at one of our vehicles outfitted with this system, it will be a bad day for him indeed...
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@Kaspir: If that kid can throw as fast as an RPG, I think there are many a MLB team who would bring him, his family, AND his village over to the US in about three seconds.
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borgseawolf
11/21/08

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: If this works on detecting missiles of certain speed only, I predict Dune-style 'slow bullet' weapons being developed as counter-measure.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@borgseawolf: The slow blade penetrates, eh?
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russdanger
11/21/08

In reply to Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System
I wonder how many low-flying birds have gotten blown to nirvana by this thing so far.
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TerryinSt.Paul
11/21/08

@russdanger:
Alot less than Randy Johnson.

+ Watch video

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Curves
11/21/08

@TerryinSt.Paul: Was that ruled a Fowl ball?
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@Curves: Excuse me, waitress, I think you may have given Curves decaf. Can she have another cup please? :)
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Barry99705
11/21/08

@russdanger: I'm sure it can tell the difference between a high speed target, and a slow flying bird.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@Barry99705: I don't know. An unladen swallow can fly pretty fast.
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godwhacker, your incandescent leader!
11/21/08

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★:

so, how fast can it fly after it has been laden?
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@godwhacker: After it finishes it's smoke and nap, pretty quick.
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Curves
11/21/08

In reply to Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System
The best defense is a good offense. They should have named this porcupine, since that is what it puts me in the mind of. (OK, so maybe I need more coffee, but thats what it reminded me of.)
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scarbrtj
11/21/08

In reply to Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System
If Matthew "Pecker" McConaughey can toss a TiVo in the path of an RPG...

then I woulda predicted that Raytheon would have no problem.
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weatherman
11/21/08

In reply to Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System
I'm no weapons engineer, but this does seem a little complicated for deployment. The timing issue is a big one - it'll work with plenty of time for detecting and acquiring the target, but in close quarters combat it would seem to inherently take too long to launch; shoot up, correct down, launch forward, explode... just too much could go wrong, especially in a combat situation.

Wasn't there another system that is already deployed - a kind of "active armor" that essentially just explodes outwards before the RPG hits? That seems like it would work more reliably in all situations. Maybe it's not as effective though. That test sure made this thing look effective!
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@weatherman: Did you see then end of the video when they did it real time? It took less than a second for the RPG to fire and the system to explode it. As for something going wrong, if you didn't have the system, you'd be defenseless. Even if it stops the RPG 50% of the time, that's still more than no system.

I think you are thinking of reactive armor that tanks use. IIRC, it doesn't detect the inbound round, but reacts when the round imapacts it.
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weatherman
11/21/08

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: yeah, you're right. I looked at it and it definitely happens really quick. Actually a heck of a lot quicker than 1 second. And if it works in combat situations, I'm all for it. More protection is more protection, after all, and we definitely need something better than the chicken wire we're using against RPGs.
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b-radicate
11/21/08

@weatherman: I wonder what'll happen if the RPG comes from another angle. Are there corrective rockets on all sides of the thing? How would it correct in another direction? Does its platform rotate super quick, too?
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@weatherman: I had to watch the end a couple of times b/c I didn't understand what they were showing. The slow mo just makes it seem like what was at the end couldn;t have been what happened it was so quick, especially with the direction changes. This reminds me of a system I saw for the President which is in essence a kevlar airbag wall. If it detects a gunshot or incoming round, it inflates a vertical wall to catch the bullet. It's a stationary unit, but they said it could be used along common paths the President walk and at events.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@b-radicate: It appears to fire straight up, then adjusts towards the target, so it might just be 360 degree.
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MartinX
11/21/08

In reply to Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System
That's pretty cool.

I wonder, however, if, when it's deployed, it will still be called the "Future Combat System"?

Surely "Present Combat System" would be more appropriate at that point, but it doesn't sound as good.

Possibly they will need to give it a new name, like BANGWHAMMER or something, then the can figure out words to make that into an acronym.

I guess that's what the DoDs highly trained reverse acronym department (R.A.D) is paid to figure out.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@MartinX: The guy who names it should watch Spaceballs.
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Cisco-Kid
11/21/08

In reply to Rocket Grenade Smashed to Bits In Flight By Quick Kill Defense System
Phase two of the system fires a second rocket at the origination of the RPG, killing the shooter.

Phase three goes after his family.
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weatherman
11/21/08

@Cisco-Kid: phase four, conceived by Dick Cheney, goes after a guy in another country who kinda reminds us of the shooter in some way because he looked at us cross-eyed once.

Sorry, it's reflexive at this point. Thank goodness I don't have to keep that up for another four years...
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/21/08

@Cisco-Kid: It then bankrupts his brothers tractor dealership.
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Russia's New Armor-Fooling Rocket Grenade Is An "Abrams Killer" Apparently

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