page_title: Tank
section_title: Active protection system
hierarchical_section_title: Tank / Design / Protection and countermeasures / Active protection system
caption_attribution_description: March 20, 2008. A tank during a training day held in the Golan Heights for the 401st Armored Brigade. The goal of the drill was to test the level of the brigade's combat fitness. Extrea description: English: Merkava Mk. IV with TROPHY (Active Protection System) during 401st Armored Brigade training עברית: טנק מרכבה סימן 4מ עם מערכת הגנה אקטיבית "מעיל רוח" באימון חטיבה 401
context_page_description: A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat. Tanks have heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield manoeuvrability provided by tracks and a powerful engine; usually their main armament is mounted in a turret. They are a mainstay of modern 20th and 21st century ground forces and a key part of combined arms combat.
  Modern tanks are versatile mobile land weapon system platforms that have a mounted large-calibre cannon called tank gun in a rotating gun turret supplemented by mounted machine guns or other weapons such as anti-tank guided missiles or rockets. They have heavy vehicle armour which provides protection for the crew, the vehicle's weapons and propulsion systems. The use of tracks rather than wheels provides operational mobility which allows the tank to move over rugged terrain and counter adverse conditions such as mud. These features enable the tank to perform well in a variety of intense combat situations, simultaneously both offensively and defensively. Fully integrating tanks into modern military forces spawned a new era of combat: armoured warfare.
context_section_description: The latest generation of protective measures for tanks are active protection systems. The term "active" is used to contrast these approaches with the armour used as the primary protective approach in earlier tanks.
  Soft kill measures, such as the Russian Shtora countermeasure system, provide protection by interfering with enemy targeting and fire-control systems, thus making it harder for the enemy threats to lock onto the targeted tank.
  Hard kill systems intercept incoming threats with a projectile(s) of its own, destroying the threat. For example, the Israeli Trophy destroys an incoming rocket or missile with shotgun-like projectiles. The Soviet Drozd, the Russian Arena, the Israeli Trophy and Iron Fist, Polish ERAWA, and the American Quick Kill systems show the potential to dramatically improve protection for tanks against missiles, RPGs and potentially kinetic energy penetrator attacks, but concerns regarding a danger zone for nearby troops remain.
caption: IDF Merkava Mk4 tank with Trophy APS ("מעיל רוח") during training
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