Artis declares Iron Curtain APS ready for deployment

Artis has announced that its Iron Curtain active protection system (APS) has successfully defeated all threats during recent US government testing. The APS was integrated with a combat vehicle by BAE Systems as a system demonstrator for the tests.

Iron Curtain protects military vehicles and other assets by intercepting threats such as rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) inches from the vehicle and rendering them inert, even if the threat was fired from extremely close range. Iron Curtain uses two independent sensors, radar (developed by Mustang Technology Group) and optical, high-speed computing, and tightly controlled countermunitions to minimise the false alarm rate and provide extraordinary system effectiveness and reliability.

Keith Brendley, CEO, Artis, commented: ‘After this latest round, where the system hit and killed 100 percent of the shots in a very demanding test series, the only rational conclusion is that the system simply works. We proved not only that Iron Curtain defeats threats and saves lives, but the risk from collateral damage is minimal, especially when compared with the alternative.’

Although there is currently no active programme within the US military to acquire an APS for ground vehicles, the threat to personnel from RPGs and similar remains. These latest tests have reinforced Artis’ position that the system is ready for deployment.

‘In addition to these compelling test results, Iron Curtain has an approved safety architecture as unanimously recommended by the Joint Services Weapons Safety Review Board. These accomplishments along with our cost studies show that this system is affordable and ready to integrate today,’ Brendley said.

Mark Signorelli, vice president and general manager of weapon systems, BAE Systems, added: ‘We evaluated many active protection systems. Iron Curtain was selected because of its test history, maturity, robust capability against many types of threats, and safety to personnel outside the vehicle. Clearly, the outstanding result from these tests vindicates our decision. The BAE protection systems team picked the best APS in the market, and then did an excellent job in integrating it with our platform.’