The Sarab Active Protection System (Mirage) is an

active protection system An active protection system is a system designed to actively prevent certain anti-tank weapons from destroying a vehicle. Countermeasures that either conceal the vehicle from, or disrupt the guidance of an incoming guided missile threat are design ...

, developed by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) and designed to help the

Syrian Army " (''Guardians of the Homeland'') , colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive * Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki , anniversaries = August 1st , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War Six ...

’s

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks ...

, T-62, and

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks ha ...

tanks counter line of sight anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). Syrian intelligence acquired 18 Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missiles from the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the governm ...

; these missiles were used by the SSRC to develop a countermeasure. The resulting soft-kill system incorporated powerful

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

(IR) jamming lights which were 80% effective against ATGMs. This has significantly reduced Syrian tank losses during the Syrian civil war. , the ''Sarab'' system has three versions: * ''Sarab-1'' was introduced in early 2016. Using multiple IR emitters mounted on a tank turret, it covers the frontal arc of the tank and can operate for 6 hours. * ''Sarab-2'' entered service at the end of 2016. It includes a protective casing and uses less power, letting it operate continuously for up to 10 hours. * ''Sarab-3'' was introduced in 2017. Unlike the prior variants, it provides full 360 degree protection by using more IR emitters.

References

{{APS Missile defense Weapons countermeasures Armoured fighting vehicle equipment Military equipment of Syria Military equipment introduced in the 2010s