The Israel Armaments Development Authority (ADA) has unveiled a new device to protect tanks against hollow-charge missiles which caused serious casualties among Israeli tank crews in the Yom Kippur War. According to Zeev Bonnen, director general of the ADA, it was tested with great success during the war in Lebanon.
Hollow-charge missiles are shells or rockets in which the explosive power is concentrated in a nose cone that can puncture a small hole in a tank’s armor and propel a deadly spray of shrapnel into the interior of the tank. The defensive device is a series of box-like structures which absorb the penetrating effects before the missile strikes the tank’s armor plate. According to Bonnen they add about one ton to the 50-odd tons weight of the average tank.
A lighter version is being produced for armored personnel carriers. Bonnen said the government has given permission to sell the new device abroad.
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