Shtora-1 (, "curtain") is an electro-optical

active protection system An active protection system (APS) is a system designed to actively prevent certain anti-tank weapons from destroying a vehicle. Countermeasures that either conceal the vehicle from or disrupt the guidance of an incoming guided missile threat are ...

or suite for tanks, designed to disrupt the

laser designator A laser designator is a laser light source which is used to designate a target. Laser designators provide targeting for laser-guided bombs, missiles, or precision artillery munitions, such as the Paveway series of bombs, AGM-114 Hellfire ...

and

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter or laser distance meter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by ...

s of incoming

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulde ...

s (ATGMs). The system is mounted on the Russian

T-80 The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union and manufactured in Russia. The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72 and changing the engine to a gas turbi ...

and

T-90 The T-90 is a third-generation Russian main battle tank developed from, and designed to replace the T-72. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard p ...

series

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s and the Ukrainian

T-84 The T-84 is a Ukraine, Ukrainian main battle tank (MBT), based on the Soviet Union, Soviet T-80 MBT introduced in 1976, specifically the diesel engine version: T-80UD. The T-84 was first built in 1994 and entered service in the Ukrainian Arme ...

. The existence of ''Shtora'' was revealed in 1980 by spy Adolf Tolkachev.'' The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal'', David E. Hoffman, location 3142, Kindle edition.

Description

Shtora-1 is an electro-optical jammer that disrupts semiautomatic command to line of sight (

SACLOS Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) is a method of missile command guidance. In SACLOS, the operator must continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. Electronics in the sighting device and/or the ...

) ATGMs,

s and

target designator A laser designator is a laser light source which is used to Targeting (warfare), designate a target. Laser designators provide targeting for laser-guided bombs, missiles, or precision artillery munitions, such as the Paveway series of bombs, ...

s. Shtora-1 is a soft kill countermeasure system. The system was shown fitted to a Russian

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

during the International Defense Exposition, held in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

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. It is also available on the BMP-3M infantry fighting vehicle.

Components

The Shtora-1 has four key components: two electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) " dazzlers" mounted on both turret cheeks, an infrared jammer, a

modulator Signal modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform in electronics and telecommunication for the purpose of transmitting information. The process encodes information in form of the modulation or message ...

, and a control panel in the fighting compartment. * Banks of forward firing

grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, Smoke screen, smoke, or tear gas, gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary gre ...

s on each side of the turret that lay an

aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...

smoke screen A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships. Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as ...

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. * A control system comprising control panel,

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

, and manual screen-laying panel. This processes the information from the

sensor A sensor is often defined as a device that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus. The stimulus is the quantity, property, or condition that is sensed and converted into electrical signal. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a devi ...

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

Operational history

The Shtora-1 is claimed to be effective at jamming obsolete SACLOS missiles such as the TOW, HOT,

MILAN Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

, and Malyutka and laser guided weapons such as the Copperhead and some variants of the Maverick and Hellfire. 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 A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

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. The jammers have been removed from many currently serving T-90s and the more modern S and M variants did not include them.

Specifications

Laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

illumination sensors: ** 2x TShU-1-1 coarse precision

s 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 grenade A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone marking device, or as a screening device for unit movements. Smoke grenades are generally more complex and emit a far larger amount of smoke than sm ...

s: ** 12x 81 mm 3D17 ** Obscured band: 0.4-14 μm ** Bloom time: 3 s ** Cloud persistence: 20 s

Notes

References

{{APS Armoured fighting vehicle equipment Missile countermeasures Military equipment introduced in the 1980s Soviet inventions