JERUSALEM (Press Release)– The IDF has successfully operated a new armor-defense system for the first time, defending a tank from a missile attack from the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, a rocket was fired at a tank in the western Negev. The tank crew then activated the new defense system, called Me’il Ruach (‘Windbreaker’) in Hebrew, and successfully foiled the attack. The ‘system first made its field debut two months ago, after antitank missiles were seen being used by Palestinian militants from Gaza and following a strike on an IDF tank with a missile.
‘Windbreaker’ – marketed as ‘Trophy’ in other countries – is an armor defense system that employs sensors and radar to identify an incoming missile, and dispatches interceptor missiles which neutralize the hostile weapon before it can strike the tank. The decision to develop the system followed the experience of the 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, in which a number of tanks were damaged by advanced anti-tank missiles. The system is comprised of three elements: threat detection and tracking, launching and, interception. Sensors located on the vehicle’s various surfaces enable threat detection and warning subsystems to provide full coverage of the vehicle’s surroundings.
According to the newspaper ‘Haaretz’, various groups in the Gaza Strip are known to hold hundreds of different antitank missiles, and the growing ability of Islamist militants to use these missiles may force the IDF to change its combat doctrine on the Gaza border, in order to reduce its exposure to the antitank missiles.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress