page_title: Active protection system
section_title: Aerial countermeasures
hierarchical_section_title: Active protection system / Soft-kill measures / Aerial countermeasures
caption_attribution_description: English: Transall C-160 Chaffs &amp; flares pod
context_page_description: An active protection system is a system designed to prevent line-of-sight guided anti-tank missiles/projectiles from acquiring and/or destroying a target.
  Electronic countermeasures that alter the electromagnetic, acoustic or other signature of a target thereby altering the tracking and sensing behavior of an incoming threat are designated soft-kill measures.
  Measures that physically counterattack an incoming threat thereby destroying/altering its payload/warhead in such a way that the intended effect on the target is severely impeded are designated hard-kill measures.
context_section_description: Generally one has to distinguish between infrared and radar countermeasures. The wavelength range between 0.8 and 5 μm is considered as Infrared (IR), the frequency range between 2 and 18 GHz is considered as Radar.
  In the wake of shoulder-launched missile attacks against civilian passenger and cargo airliners in the early 2000s, various agencies investigated the feasibility of equipping countermeasures such as chaff and flares.  Many commercial carriers found the estimated price of countermeasures to be too costly.  However, the Israeli airline El-Al, having been the target of the failed 2002 airliner attack, in which shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles were fired at an airliner while taking off, began equipping its fleet with radar-based, automated flare release countermeasures from June 2004. This caused concerns in some European countries, regarding the possible fire hazard at civilian airports, resulting in banning such aircraft from landing at their airports. In 2007, Saab announced a new infrared countermeasure system called CAMPS that does not use pyrotechnic flares, thereby directly addressing these concerns.
caption: Countermeasure Pod of Transall C-160
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