Armor: Airbags Versus RPGs

Archives

November15, 2006: A U.S. manufacturer is trying to interest the U.S. Army in a new RPG defense system. The Tactical RPG Airbag Protection System (TRAPS) uses a vehicle airbag system, coupled with a cheap, small radar and microprocessor. The radar can recognize the flight profile of an RPG (a rocket that travels at about 150 meters a second) and activate the airbag. The RPG warhead hits the airbag and usually bounces off without even exploding. If it does explode, there is much less damage to the vehicle, than if the warhead had hit the vehicle itself. Since most RPG warheads are armor piercing, this would make it possible to put just enough armor on vehicles to stop bullets, and use several TRAPS units to protect against RPGs. The manufacturer (Textron) wants to get some TRAPS units into a combat zone, so it can be seen how the equipment operates under combat (not test) conditions.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close