TEHRAN – Iran announced on Wednesday it had successfully deployed a modern homegrown active protection system (APS) on its Zulfiqar tanks, making them less vulnerable to battlefield threats. 

“The system can be mounted on armored personnel carriers and tanks. We have deployed it on Zulfiqar tanks and tested it successfully,” Tasnim quoted Aaboutalebi, one of the experts working on the project, as saying on Wednesday.
APSs detect threats from high-explosive anti-tank warheads such as those carried by the rocket-propelled grenade, enabling the tank and its crew to defeat such attacks and precisely engage the firing squad. 
“We have utilized a Doppler radar in designing the system and test-fields have been successful,” Aaboutalebi added. 
Also, APS uses a firThe unveiled active protection system can be mounted on armored personnel carriers and tanks. It has been deployed on Zulfiqar tanks and filed-tested successfully.  ewall to survive incoming threats, he said. 

The designing team have been inspired by APS used by different armies, yet the output is a copy of none.
“We have been inspired by a number of systems but the designing is quite domestic,” Aaboutalebi explained. 
In addition to a Doppler radar, Iran has tested out an engineering model of a fuzzy logic-based active protection model.
Both models use four countermeasure pods with sensors detecting threats over 360 degrees, Aaboutalebi explained. 
On if the system will be deployed on other armored vehicles and tanks, Aaboutalebi said maybe “Karar” tanks are the next machines to be equipped with the system. 
Iran has been developing and upgrading advanced home-grown battle tanks such as Zulfiqar (the legendary sword of Ali, the first Shiite Imam) and Karar (striker).

Zulfiqar, already introduced in three versions, has undergone considerable upgrades, including its fire system control and the autoloader. 

AK/PA