Date posted: 11/03/2008*

With its heading “Bullets That Shoot Bullets,” TIME gets to the heart of Raytheon’s Active Protection System (APS), featured eighth among the magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2008. TIME describes APS as “Star Wars for soldiers,” noting it is designed to protect them from short-range attack while enabling the Army to develop vehicles requiring less armor.

APS uses vertical launch technology that launches an interceptor to shoot down rocket- propelled grenades or anti-tank guided missiles coming in from any direction. The innovative “pop and pitch” engagement — whereby the interceptor launches (pops up) vertically from the vehicle, pitches over, then intercepts and destroys the threat — blows debris from the intercepted weapon downward toward the ground.

“Hitting bullets with bullets, so to speak, requires very complex and inventive technology,” said Glynn Raymer, vice president of Raytheon's Network Centric Systems Combat Systems business. “We view TIME’s selection as reflective of the APS team’s commitment to innovation, and its dedication to delivering the very best force protection technology to our soldiers.”

Raytheon is developing APS with U.S. Army Future Combat Systems One Team partners – the FCS Lead Systems Integration team of Boeing and Science Applications International, and BAE Systems.

The APS program recently passed a major milestone by completing successful stationary and moving target intercept tests. The tests represent a significant step in design verification for the system, which includes a unique capability of defeating multiple incoming projectiles simultaneously and while on the move.

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