Protection System for Defense against Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Attacks

Since the Vietnam War, military forces of the United States have had to contend with a highly effective and lethal weapon - rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) - the most popular form of which was originally developed by the Russians as a shoulder-mounted weapon designated the RPG-7. The current weapon was licensed to allies of the Soviet Union, and subsequent to its fall, the RPG-7 became the weapon of choice of insurgents and terrorists around the world. A family of warheads now exists to engage a variety of targets. Few countermeasures have met with success. Since some RPG's shaped-charge warhead is capable of penetrating 12 inches of armor plate, few mobile barriers can shield the personnel from its lethality in the case of a perfect hit. To reduce the lethality of these weapons, the countermeasure proposed here is to deploy specially designed airbags to modify the RPG's hit geometry, to serve as blast barriers absorbing the blast pressure and shrapnel, and to provide detonation separation which also reduces RPG potency. The proposed approach is part of an Active RPG-Defense System (ARPGDS) concept that builds on relatively mature technologies to enhance the survivability of the vehicles and the occupants inside.