The Arena Active Protection System (APS) is an active countermeasure system developed at Russia's Kolomna-based Engineering Design Bureau to protect armored vehicles from shaped-charge projectiles. It uses millimeter-wavelength radar to detect incoming warheads, then fires a defensive projectile, timed to detonate immediately above the target and spray it with a stream of splinters thereby defeating the threat.

Arena was designed partly in response to vulnerabilities of the Russian tanks, discovered during fighting in Chechnya in the 1990s. It is intended to help protect a tank from light anti-tank weapons and ATGMs, including some of those with top attack warheads.

The system cost is approximately $300,000.

External links

• FAS.ORG PDF describing various active protection systems
• Description of the Arena APS - includes diagrams, photos and movies (in DivX .avi format).

AFV equipment | Weapons countermeasures

Arena (system obrony)