By Evan Ackerman

One way to protect tanks from rocket propelled grenades is passively, by giving them more armor. A more effective way is actively, but shooting down incoming rounds before they even make it to the vehicle. It would be great if it were possible to do that with lasers, but it’s not yet (although we’re getting closer), so in the meantime the army’s Future Combat System will use a Quick Kill interceptor, a tiny little missile which pops up, locates the incoming round, orients itself, and fires, detonating the incoming round before it has a chance to strike the vehicle. Good thing the Russians haven’t already come up with a decoy system…

VIA [ Danger Room ]