Arena Active Protection System

__NOTOC__Infobox Weapon
name= ARENA


caption= Arena Active Protection System
origin= flagicon|Russia Russia
type= Active Protection System
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is_UK=yes
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used_by= Russia
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designer= Kolomna-based Engineering Design Bureau (KBM)
design_date= 1993 [cite paper|name = "faspaper"|author = Captain Meyer, Tom J.| title = "Active Protection Systems: Impregnable Armor or Simply Enhanced Survivability?"|url = http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/docs/3aps98.pdf|accessdate = 2008-02-23]
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unit_cost= US$300,000
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variants= ARENA-E (export)
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weight= 1100 kg
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range= 50 meters
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guidance= Doppler RadarThe Arena Active Protection System (APS) is an active countermeasure system developed at Russia's Kolomna-based Engineering Design Bureau to protect armoured fighting vehicles from light anti-tank weapons, ATGMs, and missiles with top attack warheads. It uses a millimeter-wavelength doppler radar to detect incoming warheads. It then fires a defensive projectile which is timed to detonate immediately above the target and spray it with a submunitions--thereby defeating the threat.

The system protects the vehicle in a 220-270 degree arc in front of the turret, which traverses depending on where the turret is pointing. The zone of protection extends to around twenty to thirty meters around the tank, allowing infantry to operate nearbycite web|title="ARENA-E Active Protection System"|url=http://www.milparade.com/catalog/pdf/185-187.pdf|accessdate=2008-02-09] . It should be noted that this system is prone to creating large amounts of shrapnel. When the system is activated, a warning signal is activated to alert nearby personnel to take cover or keep their distance [ [http://www.defense-update.com/products/a/arena-e.htm ARENA E - Active Protection System ] ] .

Arena was designed partly in response to vulnerabilities of the Russian tanks, discovered during fighting in Chechnya in the 1990s [cite paper|author = Geibel, Adam| title = "Learning from their Mistakes: Russia's Arena Active Protection System"|url = http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA323300|accessdate = 2008-02-09] . There, many Russian armored vehicles and BTRs had fallen prey to anti-tank missiles and RPGs launched by Chechen fighters.

The cost of the system on a single armoured vehicle is approximately $300,000. It was first employed on the T-80UM1 Main Battle Tank. The export version is referred to as the ARENA-E [cite web|title="KBM Arena active armoured fighting vehicle defence system (Russian Federation)"|url=http://www.janes.com/extracts/extract/jaau/jaau0248.html|accessdate=2008-02-26] .

ee also

*Drozd, Arena's less-sophisticated precursor
*Iron Fist active protection system
*Trophy active protection system

References

External links

* [http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/docs/3aps98.pdf Description of various active protection systems]
* [http://armor.kiev.ua/fofanov/Tanks/EQP/arena.html Description of the Arena APS] – includes diagrams, photos and movies (in DivX .avi format).