Shtora-1 (, "curtain") is an electro-optical active protection system or suite for tanks, designed to disrupt the laser designator and laser rangefinders of incoming anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). The system is mounted on the Russian T-80 and T-90 series tanks and the Ukrainian T-84. The existence of Shtora was revealed in 1980 by spy Adolf Tolkachev.The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal, David E. Hoffman, location 3142, Kindle edition.
Description Shtora-1 is an electro-optical jammer that disrupts semiautomatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) ATGMs, laser rangefinders and target designators. Shtora-1 is a soft kill countermeasure system. The system was shown fitted to a Russian main battle tank during the International Defense Exposition, held in Abu Dhabi in 1995. The first known application of the system is the Russian T-90 main battle tank, which entered service in the Russian Army in 1993. It is also available on the BMP-3M infantry fighting vehicle.
Components
The Shtora-1 has four key components: two electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) "dazzlers" mounted on both turret cheeks, an infrared jammer, a modulator, and a control panel in the fighting compartment.
Banks of forward firing grenade launchers on each side of the turret that lay an aerosol smoke screen opaque to IR light. A laser warning system consisting of four angle sensors with two higher precision sensors covering the frontal 90° arc and two lower precision sensors covering the sides and rear. A control system comprising control panel, microprocessor, and manual screen-laying panel. This processes the information from the sensors and activates the aerosol screen-laying system. Two IR lights, one on each side of the main gun, continuously emit coded pulsed-IR jamming when an incoming ATGM has been detected.
Shtora-1 has twelve smoke grenade launchers and weighs 400 kg. It can lay a 15 meter high and 20 meter wide smoke screen in three seconds that lasts about twenty seconds at ranges from 50 to 70 meters. The Shtora-1 can also automatically slew the main gun towards a detected threat, so that the tank crew can return fire and so that the stronger frontal turret armour is facing it.
Shtora-1 can operate in fully automatic or semi-automatic modes, protecting the vehicle continuously for up to six hours against ATGM attacks.
Operational history A number of Shtora-1 protected T-90s have been lost to anti-tank guided weapons in Syria and Ukraine. The jammers have been removed from many currently serving T-90s and the more modern S and M variants did not include them.
Specifications Laser illumination sensors: 2x TShU-1-1 coarse precision sensors and 2x TShU-1-11 fine sensors Field of view (each): 138° azimuth (coarse) 45° (fine) and −5 to +25° elevation Field of view (total): 360° azimuth Angular resolution: 7.5° (coarse) 3.75° (fine) EO interference emitters: 2x OTShU-1-7 Operating band: 0.7-2.7 μm Protected sector: 4° elevation and 20° azimuth Energy consumption: 1 kW Light intensity: 20 mcd IR smoke grenades: 12x 81 mm 3D17 Obscured band: 0.4-14 μm Bloom time: 3 s Cloud persistence: 20 s
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