Fast-Firing Turret Aims to Counter RPGs

Sea Power, Feb 2005 by Burgess, Richard R

Armament makers in the United States are developing ways to counter a ubiquitous force-protection threat to U.S ground forces: rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).

RPGs - inexpensive, cone-shaped, armor-piercing grenades fired from shoulder-mounted launch tubes - are one of the principle threats faced by U.S. Marines and Army soldiers in Iraq. Next to car bombs and improvised explosive devices (roadside bombs), RPGs are the most dangerous and effective munition used in great numbers by Iraqi insurgents.

The simple RPG-7, a development of the German Panzerfaust RPG of World War II, first was fielded by the Soviet Army in 1961 and exported to more than 40 countries. It was license-built in Iraq. The RPG-7 is considered effective against moving targets at 300 meters and against stationary targets at 500 meters, according to Lester W. Grau of the Army's Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The RPG-7 also is effective against low-flying helicopters, as has been lethally demonstrated in Somalia and Iraq.

The armored vehicles used by U.S. forces in Iraq - including the M1 Abrarns tank - provide substantial protection against small arms but are not invulnerable to RPGs.

Most of the effort to mitigate the effect of RPGs involves increasing the thickness and coverage of armor on vehicles, or installing steel fences that detonate a grenade before it can penetrate the hull of a vehicle. At least one company, however, is leading an effort to provide active countermeasures to defeat RPGs.

United Defense Industries is developing a gun system to intercept and destroy incoming RPGs. The Close-In Countermeasures (CICM) system features an infrared sensor, radar and guns mounted on a swiveling turret designed to be installed on an armored vehicle such as a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Although the RPG has been a longstanding threat, the war in Iraq has again highlighted the need for effective countermeasures, said Herb Muktarian, a spokesman for United Defense Ground Systems in York, Pa.

United Defense, a long-time contractor of the Army's Tank and Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, formed a team and initiated development of CICM on its own initiative and with its own funds, which it declined to quantify. The team developed its solution in less than nine months, according to Carl Sullinger, the company's CICM program manager.

The full CICM system was tested in September 2004 at the Army's Redstone Technical Test Center in Alabama, where it successfully detected, tracked and destroyed RPGs before they could hit their targets.

The CICM uses a microbolometer infrared imaging camera - developed by BAE Systems' Information & Electronic Warfare Systems - to detect the launch flame of an RPG. The lightweight microbolometer camera is a new generation of infrared sensor, according to Marianne Murphy, a spokeswoman for BAE Systems. It is not to be confused with a night-vision device that amplifies moonlight or starlight to create an image.

Microbolometer cameras can be used to view targets in total darkness, or smoky or foggy conditions, and create an image like that viewed on a black-and-white television. Microbolometer systems weigh 1.5 to 4 pounds and operate on four to six AA-size batteries. They are sized for use on sights for infantry weapons and crew-served weapons, and are useful for targeting and surveillance by light armored vehicles, small unmanned aerial vehicles and robotic ground vehicles.

By contrast, earlier infrared systems - commonly used on aircraft, vehicles or naval vessels - used cryogenic coolers or mechanical optical scanners, weighed 25 pounds or more, and required several pounds of batteries to operate for 12 hours.

The infrared system cues the low-cost radar to automatically track the incoming RPG. The multibarreled, recoilless launchers mounted on either side of the turret fire lightweight nonexplosive rounds that impact and destroy the RPG.

For proprietary reasons, Muktarian declined to reveal more specific characteristics of the launchers, which photographs show featuring two bundles of multiple small-caliber barrels.

With regard to concerns that such a quick-reaction weapon system might result in friendly fire mishaps, Muktarian said the CICM is designed with safety features that enable it to "accurately discern real threats from false targets."

He said United Defense is interested in sharing CICM capabilities with military services in addition to the Army, however he declined to specify the Marine Corps as an interested potential customer.

CICM Development Team

United Defense Ground Systems, York Pa.

BAE Systems IEWS, Nashua, N.H.

Applimotion Corp., Loomis, Calif.

Electro-Energy Danbury, Conn.

Vista Controls, Littleton, Mass.

Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Corp., Hollister, Calif.

CTC, Santa Clara, Calif.

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor