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Sarab Active Protection System
Active protection system

The Sarab Active Protection System (Mirage) is an active protection system, developed by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS) and designed to help the Syrian Army’s T-55, T-62, T-72 and T-72 Adra tanks counter line of sight anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).

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Design

Syrian intelligence acquired 18 Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missiles from the Free Syrian Army; these missiles were used by the CERS to develop a countermeasure.2 The resulting soft-kill system incorporated powerful infrared (IR) jamming lights which were 80% effective against ATGMs.34 This has significantly reduced Syrian tank losses during the Syrian civil war.

Sarab can effectively jam SACLOS missiles such as the TOW (also TOW 2), HOT, MILAN, Dragon, 9K115-2 Metis-M, 9M113 Konkurs and Malyutka and laser guided weapons such as the Copperhead and some variants of the Maverick and Hellfire.5

Versions

As of 2017, the Sarab (Mirage) system has three versions:

  • Sarab-1 was introduced in early 2016. Using multiple IR emitters mounted on a tank turret, it covers the 180° frontal arc of the tank and can operate for 6 hours.
  • Sarab-2 entered service at the end of 2016. It includes a protective casing and uses less power, letting it operate continuously for up to 10 hours.6
  • Sarab-3 was introduced in 2017. Unlike the prior variants, it provides full 360 degree protection by using more IR emitters.78

Operators

References

  1. Eshel, Tamir (1 March 2017). "Home Grown Syrian Soft Kill System Successfully Defeated TOW Missiles". Defense Update. http://defense-update.com/20170301_sarab-aps.html ↩

  2. Murakhovsky, Viktor (1 March 2016). "Т90 в Сирии: "Экипаж танка был слабо подготовлен"". gazeta.ru. Retrieved 6 April 2023. http://www.gazeta.ru/army/2016/02/29/8101481.shtml ↩

  3. Eshel, Tamir (1 March 2017). "Home Grown Syrian Soft Kill System Successfully Defeated TOW Missiles". Defense Update. http://defense-update.com/20170301_sarab-aps.html ↩

  4. Villasanta, Arthur Dominic (2 March 2017). "New Syrian Army Infrared Jammer Protects Tanks vs TOW and other ATGMs". Chinatopix. http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/112061/20170302/new-syrian-army-infrared-jammer-protects-tanks-vs-tow-atgms.htm ↩

  5. Eshel, Tamir (1 March 2017). "Home Grown Syrian Soft Kill System Successfully Defeated TOW Missiles". Defense Update. http://defense-update.com/20170301_sarab-aps.html ↩

  6. "In Syria, new anti-missile "birdhouses" were spotted on the T-72". Vestnik. 6 November 2016. https://vestnik-rm.ru/news/oborona-i-bezopasnost/v-sirii-na-t-72-zamecheny-novye-protivoraketnye-skvorechniki ↩

  7. Eshel, Tamir (1 March 2017). "Home Grown Syrian Soft Kill System Successfully Defeated TOW Missiles". Defense Update. http://defense-update.com/20170301_sarab-aps.html ↩

  8. "Sarab 1 ,2 &3 Active Protection System". within-syria.blogspot.ca. https://web.archive.org/web/20171201043655/http://within-syria.blogspot.ca/2017/02/sarab-1-2-aps.html ↩

  9. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/05/04/seven-years-war-documenting-syrian-rebel-use-anti-tank-guided-missiles/ https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/05/04/seven-years-war-documenting-syrian-rebel-use-anti-tank-guided-missiles/ ↩