IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer with slat armor. The D9's armor deflected RPG rockets and even 9K11 Malyutka (AT-3 Sagger) ATGMs.

Cage armor on a M113 Armored Personnel Carrier.

Cage armor on a Swedish S-Tank.

Cage armor on an M1 Abrams.

Cage armor also known as bar armor, slat armor, and standoff armor is a type of armor designed to protect against anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks. It functions by placing a rigid grid around the vehicle which disrupts the shaped charge warhead by either crushing it, preventing optimal detonation from occurring, or by damaging the fuzing mechanism preventing detonation. It can be defeated by tandem-charge designs such as the RPG-27 and RPG-29.^[1]

[edit] Combat

During the Battle of Berlin, some Soviet T-34 tanks were field-fitted with cage armor, in the form of bed springs or screen doors mounted at a slight distance from the hull or turret sides or top. This increased protection against the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck anti-tank weapons in common use by German troops.

In the Vietnam war, it was commonly used on the sides of patrol barges and boats. The CCB-18 is a surviving example of the Mobile Riverine Force which used such armor.^[2] Wire fencing was also placed on vehicles such as the M113 to defeat RPGs. In modern times, this type of armor has seen use on the IDF Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer, the Force Protection Buffalo MPV MRAP Category III vehicle as well as the General Dynamics Stryker and the Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle,^[3] M113, Leopard 2A6 main battle tank^[4] and T-62 (seen in Georgia).^[5] Advantages of cage armor over traditional plate armor include much lighter weight and maneuverability.^[6] BAE Systems has developed an extremely lightweight aluminum system called the LROD, already in use on the Buffalo MPV, which they claim weighs half the amount of comparable steel designs.^[3] BAE has equipped several US Army RG-31s with a variant of the system which is a lightweight aluminum version called L-Rod and is developing the system for its RG-33 vehicles, the Caiman, and the JERRV. L-Rod is also the standard RPG solution for the Buffalo vehicles in the field.

The slat armor on the IDF Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer was introduced in 2005 but was installed in large numbers only in 2006. The armor proved itself effective as it deflected many RPG rockets and even heavier anti-tank missiles.^{[citation needed]} For this armor, its developers and builders - MASHA (Maintenance and Restoration Center), CHATAL (IDF Ground Force Technology Unit) and MANTAK (Armor Administration), received an award. ^[7] Following the success of the slat armor on the D9 it was installed on other armored vehicles.

[edit] See also

• Reactive armor
• MRAP (armored vehicle)
• V-hull

[edit] Sources