International Truck and Engine Corporation, in collaboration with Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. and Griffin Inc., have introduced an armored personnel carrier that employs explosive reactive armor (ERA).

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Unveiled at the 2005 Association of the Unites States Army (AUSA) show the week of Oct. 3 in Washington, D.C.; the ERA protects the vehicle's occupants from threats such as roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.

As Robert Puhalovich, marketing manager, military and government group at International, pointed out: "Crew survivability is the number one concern for military forces for today's hostile missions. What's more, it is when troops and personnel are being transported from one point to another that they are most vulnerable."

Explosive reactive armor (ERA) is a common form of add-on armor used on many armored fighting vehicles. The concept is combat proven having been deployed by the Israel Defense Forces in the late 1970s. It was first successfully used in combat with the Israeli Army M-60s and Centurion tanks in the 1982 war, and later by the Russian Army by the mid-1980s.

Arrayed across the surface of the vehicles are box-like regions that are bolted on the passive layer and within each package is a 1.5 DOT explosive device. ("1.5 DOT" is an explosive rating assigned by the Department of Transportation.)

This reactive armor weighs one-tenth of what a passive armor system with the same ability to stop incoming rounds would weigh.

As Puhalovich explains, when an RPG pierces the outer shell, it triggers the small explosive devices in the box-like regions that then blow outward, thereby counteracting the force of the assailing explosive, nullifying the threat so that the blast does not pierce the passive shell protecting the occupants.