US Army chooses “Iron Fist” defense system to protect vehicles

The United States Army has chosen an Israeli-designed “active protection system” to protect its Armored Personnel Carriers.

According to The Tower, the American military will use Israel Military Industries’ “Iron Fist” missile deterrence system to defend its fleet of light and medium weight armored vehicles against both guided and unguided projectiles.

Working in a micro-scaled manner similar to Israel’s Iron Dome system (that protects the country from rocket attacks), the Iron Fist system works by detecting a threat, tracking it, making a split-second decision on the nature of the threat and engaging it with projectile-based or electronic countermeasures- thus deflecting or destroying the incoming missile.

“A boxer can put up both hands to absorb blows – this is passive defense,” explained  Avinoam Zafir, IMI’s corporate vice president of marketing. “He can also strike out with a fist and hit before he is punched. This is active defense, and it is what our system offers.”

According to IMI, the system’s sensors will also allow the crew to detect other threats, such as snipers.

The US Army reportedly chose the system due to the light weight, affordability and ability of the system to fire interceptors against a variety of targets.

Head of US Marine Corps Combat Development Command LTG Robert Walsh told the Daily Mail back in April of 2016 year that they are seeing “much more sophisticated threats on the ground” and that the current practice of adding more armor to already burdened vehicles is only slowing them down.

Zafir states that Israel will be providing the systems within two years, and the acquisition has “a very big potential.”

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