Sarab Active Protection System

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The Sarab Active Protection System is an active protection system, developed by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) and designed to help the Syrian Army’s T-55, T-62 and T-72 tanks counter line of sight anti-tank guided missiles.[1]

Syrian intelligence acquired 18 TOWs from the Free Syrian Army; these missiles were used by the SSRC to develop a countermeasure. The resulting soft-kill system incorporated powerful infrared jamming lights which were 80% effective against ATGMs.[1][2]

This has significantly reduced the losses of Syrian tanks during the Syrian civil war. There are currently three versions of the Sarab (Mirage) system:

  • Sarab-1 was introduced in early 2016. Using multiple IR emitters mounted on the tank's turret, it covered the frontal arc of the tank and could operate for 6 hours.
  • Sarab-2 entered service at the end of 2016. It included a protective casing and consumed less power, meaning it could operate continuously for up to 10 hours.
  • Sarab-3 was introduced in 2017. Unlike the previous variants, it provided full 360 degree protection by using additional IR emitters.[1][3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Home Grown Syrian Soft Kill System Successfully Defeated TOW Missiles".
  2. ^ Villasanta, Arthur Dominic (2 March 2017). "New Syrian Army Infrared Jammer Protects Tanks vs TOW and other ATGMs".
  3. ^ "Sarab 1 ,2 &3 Active Protection System". within-syria.blogspot.ca.
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