Comments on: Cage Armor Applied to New Vehicles

By: Walter Schwall IV

Walter Schwall IV — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:08:59 +0000

Hmmm… why add more armor if it can take a hit and keep moving and people inside are not jelly like? We should totally up the firepower and start adding armor and reworking and improving to mabye a hummer or a guy but your right we should infiltrate the population and gain intel. Thats what we need the most intel. Though protecting our guys to fight another day is a good thing too.

By: H.Kent

H.Kent — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:38:59 +0000

You should be aware that the bars impact the fuze mechanism of the shaped charge, initiating the base detonator prematurely. Instead of forming on the armor face, most of the energy is wasted above. The point of an RPG is a windscreen containing no explosive. Look for electromagnetic armor to eliminate shaped charge anti-tank weapons in the future.

By: Roy Smith

Roy Smith — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:44:36 +0000

Its true that our armor & armor upgrades have not been tested against the AT-14 Kornet(although they said that Iraq did use them against us in the beginning of the Iraq War),AT-15 Khrizantema,or the AT-16 Ataka-V VIKhR anti-tank rockets & the RPG-29 Vampir.I remember that the Palestinians made a huge roadside bomb that blew up a Merkava tank,but I think that that is more rare to be faced than the above mentioned rockets.If we go to war against Iran,it is guaranteed that we will see these rockets against us.

By: Mark Pyruz

Mark Pyruz — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:20:07 +0000

This is a short term fix, granted. Looking down a bit farther, consider the increased threat of weapons in the Iranian inventory that are not currently being found on the Iraqi battlefield, but will likely turn up in number in response to a US attack on its territory, such as sophisticated ATGM’s. Should a US attack be launched against Iran, weapons previously withheld (held back partly as a chess-like move of calculated escalation) could turn up in abundance, turning the Iraqi battlefield into something more resembling the battlefield in southern Lebanon 2006. During that conflict, IDF APC’s took a drubbing from a variety of shoulder fired weapons, and the more sophisticated ATGM’s targeted AFV’s like the Merkava.

By: 22lr

22lr — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:25:53 +0000

A cage like this, doesn’t block your door. One gets the picture of a cage and thinks it surrounds the whole thing, that just ain’t so, your doors are still very much free. And if it did, in 5 min you could cut it off and re-weld it to where it wouldn’t. it is a good system and it works, its just a matter of our tactics.

By: Walter A. Murray, Jr.

Walter A. Murray, Jr. — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:42:30 +0000

I don’t beleif our military leaders have a clue. Churchill said that if history teaches us one thing, it is we never learn from it.
No matter how much is spent we can not make war safe. An encloed vehicle is a death trap. Tanks and self propelled artilery are the only vehicles that should be enclosed. Even then these two can be death traps.
Seat belts, shoulder harness, and metal tops kill. I you have been there the last thing you need is an impedement to exit a vehicle.
Walter A. Murray, Jr.

By: 22lr

22lr — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:14:29 +0000

I see the same thing, everyone getts all excited over IEDs, then here we go with RPGs again. Media hyped Dragon Skin, MRAPs, UAVs, robots, how bad the M-16 is, how bad the M-9 is, and on and on. So we end up spending a boat load of money on problems that are only short term, or simply nonexistant. All a person would need to do is start shooting Black Talon 9mms and the pistol problem is solved. Spoon tipped bullet and the 5.56 problem solved. Training the troops better, robots and UAVs solved. MRAPs are good and I like em, but it is a short term fix, all you have to do is make the bomb a little bigger. Cage armour, great, it works, it should be really cheap, but again its a short term fix, not a real solution.
As for a real Solution, who knows maybe it is just more troops, maybe its nukeing someone. But you can never expect to win a war if you are always just defensive, you have to be agressive and go after the people getting the weapons in the country (can someone help me say IRAN).

By: timbrusky

timbrusky — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:47:55 +0000

Best answer to these questions of the support that this new defensive tactic is to ask the tank commander who has to put his butt in the vehicle. If they say it works and they need em… katy bar the door, get’em on and pronto!

By: Media Savy

Media Savy — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:31:26 +0000

The vehicle in the picture does not have the L-Rod armament package installed. http://www.baesystemspresskit.com/ausa2007/Image_Gallery.cfm
When I look at the picture I wonder how much added weight the L-Rod adds to the vehicle and how much it will degrade the capability of the vehicle. Also how does one exit a vehicle wrapped in bars, what does it do to the vehicles stability and the list goes on…

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:08:25 +0000

After being out in Iraq, and seeing these vehicles first hand, the extra L-shaped cage around the vehicles work! The RPG strikes the cage and detonates, shooting the shaped penetrator inside towards the vehicle. The distance between the cage and the vehicle gives it enough time for the penetrator to cool off and make it unable to damage the vehicle. The Stryker units have them on right now…and they came to my shop and I could see what happened.
If it cost $10000 a cage, so what…if it saves one American life of a soldier inside that vehicle, it was well worth the money spent.