Shtora-1
A T-90 main battle tank fitted with the Shtora system; note the two dazzler "boxes" to each side of the main gun
TypeActive protection system
Place of originSoviet Union
Service history
In service1988–present
Production history
DesignerNII Transmash in St.Petersburg in cooperation with Elers-Elektron in Moscow[1]
Designed1980[2]
Specifications
Mass350 kg (770 lb)[3]

Shtora-1 (Russian: Штора, "curtain") is an electro-optical active protection system or suite for tanks, designed to disrupt the laser designator and laser rangefinders of incoming anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). The system is mounted on the Russian T-80 and T-90 series tanks and the Ukrainian T-84. The existence of Shtora was revealed in 1980 by spy Adolf Tolkachev.[2]

Description

Shtora-1[4] is an electro-optical jammer that disrupts semiautomatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) ATGMs, laser rangefinders and target designators. Shtora-1 is a soft kill countermeasure system. The system was shown fitted to a Russian main battle tank during the International Defense Exposition, held in Abu Dhabi in 1995. The first known application of the system is the Russian T-90 main battle tank, which entered service in the Russian Army in 1993.[lower-alpha 1] It is also available on the BMP-3M infantry fighting vehicle.

Components

Infrared light emitter, with its opening protected by a round cover

The Shtora-1 has four key components: two electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) "dazzlers" mounted on both turret cheeks, an infrared jammer, a modulator, and a control panel in the fighting compartment.

  • Banks of forward firing grenade launchers on each side of the turret that lay an aerosol smoke screen opaque to IR light.
  • A laser warning system consisting of four angle sensors with two higher precision sensors covering the frontal 90° arc and two lower precision sensors covering the sides and rear.[5]
  • A control system comprising control panel, microprocessor, and manual screen-laying panel. This processes the information from the sensors and activates the aerosol screen-laying system.
  • Two IR lights, one on each side of the main gun, continuously emit coded pulsed-IR jamming when an incoming ATGM has been detected.

Shtora-1 has twelve smoke grenade launchers and weighs 400 kg. It can lay a 15 meter high and 20 meter wide smoke screen in three seconds that lasts about twenty seconds at ranges from 50 to 70 meters.[5] The Shtora-1 can also automatically slew the main gun towards a detected threat, so that the tank crew can return fire and so that the stronger frontal turret armour is facing it.[4]

Shtora-1 can operate in fully automatic or semi-automatic modes, continuously for six hours against ATGM attack.[6]

Operational history

The Shtora-1 can effectively jam obsolete SACLOS missiles such as the TOW, HOT, MILAN, Dragon, and Malyutka and laser guided weapons such as the Copperhead and some variants of the Maverick and Hellfire.[3] Newer missiles such as the TOW 2 (which encodes the tracking beacon signals to reject interference) and imaging infrared guided missiles such as the Javelin are unaffected by it. This has resulted in a number of Shtora-1 protected T-90s being lost to such weapons in Syria and Ukraine.[7][8] The jammers have been removed from many currently serving T-90s and the more modern S and M variants did not include them.[9]

Specifications

  • Laser illumination sensors:[3][10]
    • 2x TShU-1-1 coarse precision sensors and 2x TShU-1-11 fine sensors
    • Field of view (each): 138° azimuth (coarse) 45° (fine) and −5 to +25° elevation
    • Field of view (total): 360° azimuth
    • Angular resolution: 7.5° (coarse) 3.75° (fine)
  • EO interference emitters:
    • 2x OTShU-1-7
    • Operating band: 0.7-2.7 μm
    • Protected sector: 4° elevation and 20° azimuth
    • Energy consumption: 1 kW
    • Light intensity: 20 mcd
  • IR smoke grenades:
    • 12x 81 mm 3D17
    • Obscured band: 0.4-14 μm
    • Bloom time: 3 s
    • Cloud persistence: 20 s

Notes

  1. ↑ Though an early version of the system was apparently fitted to the pre-production T-80 model.

References

  1. ↑ Zaloga, Steven (February 1997). "T-90: the standard of Russian expediency". Jane's Intelligence Review: 58–64.
  2. 1 2 The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal, David E. Hoffman, location 3142, Kindle edition.
  3. 1 2 3 Tom J. Meyer (March 1998). "Active Protective Systems: Impregnable Armor or Simply Enhanced Survivability?" (PDF). Armor Active Protection Systems. pp. 7–11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-07.
  4. 1 2 "Shtora-1 Active Protection System". Defense-update.com. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
  5. 1 2 "苏联/俄罗斯Shtora-1/-2坦克光电干扰系统简介". Xiaomao Research Institute. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  6. ↑ Antal, John (January 2020). "Surviving the City Fight 21st Century Armour in the Urban Canyon" (PDF). European Security & Defense. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Murakhovsky, Victor (1 March 2016). "Т90 в Сирии: «Экипаж танка был слабо подготовлен»". gazeta.ru. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  8. ↑ Brent M., Eastwood (31 March 2022). "Why Russia's Feared T-90 Tank Keeps Getting Killed In Ukraine". 1945. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "T-90M MODEL 2017 PRORYV-3 MBT". Army Recognition. 5 April 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  10. ↑ A. Tarasenko. "Комплекс оптико-электронного подавления «Штора-1»".
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