Protecting military equipment from enemy missiles is a critical mission in modern warfare. To counter the threat from Russian-made anti-tank missiles, the US Army recently selected BAE Systems' RAVEN drone jammer. The development of this new soft-kill system will provide important protection capabilities for US armored vehicles, ensuring combat effectiveness in combat.
Advantages of BAE RAVEN signal jammer
BAE's RAVEN GPS jammer stood out in the Army's "Soft Kill Competition". In this competition, the Army fired live anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) at three competitors to evaluate their anti-missile capabilities.
- Multi-Function Countermeasures: BAE RAVEN is a multi-function countermeasure system (MFCM) that is able to effectively counter multiple types of missiles and threats. In tests with other systems such as Northrop Grumman's MEOS and Lockheed Martin's CLOUD, RAVEN demonstrated its strong jamming capabilities, which made it stand out in the military's selection.
- Soft Kill Technology: Compared with hard kill systems, RAVEN uses soft kill technology, which can deceive and blind incoming missiles through electronic interference. This method does not consume physical ammunition and can be used continuously in multiple attacks, increasing the flexibility and durability of the system.
- Integration with hard kill systems: RAVEN can work in conjunction with the Israeli-made Iron Fist hard kill system to form a layered active protection. This dual defense strategy allows the Army to choose to use soft kill or hard kill methods as needed when facing different types of threats, thereby improving the overall combat effectiveness.
- Strong adaptability: RAVEN is designed with the needs of an open architecture in mind, making it compatible with future new technologies and systems from different suppliers. This flexibility will enable the US Army to quickly upgrade and adapt when facing a changing battlefield environment.
Although the US Army has not yet officially purchased BAE RAVEN, the deployment of the system is seen as an important measure to cope with the increasingly severe security situation. In particular, Russian-made anti-tank missiles are widely used by conventional armies and guerrillas around the world, and effective protection measures must be taken.
Technical Background and Competitors
At the Redstone Army Test Center in Alabama, the RAVEN wireless Wifi jammer won the competition with Northrop Grumman's Multifunction Electro-Optical System (MEOS) and Lockheed Martin's Improved Color Light Deflection Operational Unit (CLOUD). As a multi-functional countermeasure system (MFCM), RAVEN not only has the ability to jam missiles, but also can be integrated with other protection systems.
The next step is to install RAVEN on the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle for a "layered demonstration", that is, to integrate soft-kill and hard-kill systems on the same platform, coordinated by the Modular Active Protection System (MAPS) developed by the Army. The effective integration of such systems will greatly enhance the survivability of armored vehicles in combat.
The evolution of active protection systems
In the past, the Army's focus has been mainly on hard-kill active protection systems (APS), which shoot down incoming missiles by firing small missiles or explosives. After decades of technology accumulation, the Army purchased the combat-proven hard-kill system, Rafael Trophy, in 2017 and began installing it on the M1 Abrams tank. At the same time, the IMI Iron Fist system was also selected for installation on the M2 Bradley, a medium tank-fitted troop carrier.
In contrast, soft-kill systems have received relatively little publicity, but their importance cannot be ignored. Soft-kill systems use electronic interference to blind or deceive incoming missiles so that they cannot hit their targets. The complementarity with hard-kill systems makes the combination of the two the best strategy for protecting armored vehicles. The advantage of soft-kill systems is that they do not consume ammunition, so they can be used first in higher threat environments.
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Integration and Future Development
In order to fully utilize the role of hard-kill and soft-kill systems, coordination between vehicles is essential. The MAPS project aims to create an open-architecture modular APS Framework (MAF) that can be used by any existing or future armored vehicle. This design allows the military to easily integrate new technologies from different suppliers to ensure that vehicles always remain at the forefront of protection.
