Asymmetrical warfare--armour: due to the operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq new requirements in armoured protection for fighting vehicles have emerged. While laboratories and research facilities were focusing on protection systems developments against smart weapons, most of the casualties were made by so-called dumb threats.

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Vehicles: armour

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Asymmetrical warfare--armour: due to the operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq new requirements in armoured protection for fighting vehicles have emerged. While laboratories and research facilities were focusing on protection systems developments against smart weapons, most of the casualties were made by so-called dumb threats.

With the realisation that two thirds of the American soldiers killed in Iraq actually fell victim to improvised explosive devices, mines and RPG7 hand-held weapons, ballistic armour protection is back in force in all inventories. For all the dreamers who assumed that a combination of smart stealth technologies and electronic protection would have solved the problem of survivability on the battlefield, it is now time to wake up.

However, the lesson learned by western armies is an old story for the Israeli Army. Years of struggle against Hesbollah militias and Palestinians fighting organisations in south Lebanon and occupied territories have taught the Israeli forces a few lessons about the devastating effects of creatively applied rudimentary weapons.

Improvised Explosive Devices

Merkavas and others Israeli heavy armoured vehicles remained undefeated until the Palestinians heard about armoured vehicles being destroyed in the Balkans and Sri Lanka by heavy buried explosive charges. The time had come to try this approach themselves. A buried charge generally ...

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