Jan 27, 2026

US12535301 - Active protection against beam-riding guided munition

The presently disclosed subject matter includes an active protection system and a method, dedicated for detecting, locating, and incapacitating beam-riding missiles and in that way protecting an asset from being targeted by the missile. According to some examples following receipt of a threat-indication, the active protection system estimates a location of a beam used for directing a threat (e.g., ATGM) to the target and launches an aerial platform that flies in the opposite direction along the beam until it meets and incapacitates the incoming threat.

Assignee: ELTA SYSTEMS LTD.
Inventors: Jacob Rovinsky, Yoav Tourgeman
Filing date: 2022-03-02

defensesprayself-defensechemical

The patent describes an active protection system designed to detect and incapacitate beam-riding guided munitions by estimating the location of the guiding beam and launching an aerial platform to intercept the threat. The system includes a tracking subsystem, computer processing circuitry, and a countermeasure subsystem that work together to track the incoming threat and guide the aerial platform towards it.

Claim 1

1 . A system for intercepting a beam-riding threat, comprising: a tracking subsystem, a computer processing circuitry and a countermeasure subsystem; the tracking subsystem is configured, following receipt of a threat-indication, to track an incoming threat and provide threat track-data to the computer processing circuitry; the processing circuitry is configured to determine, based on the threat track-data, an estimated location of a guiding beam used for guiding the incoming threat; the system is configured to: generate instructions causing the countermeasure subsystem to launch at least one aerial platform, the aerial platform comprises an onboard sensor sensitive for detecting electromagnetic radiation of the guiding beam; and provide to the aerial platform the estimated location of the guiding beam, to thereby enable the aerial platform to locate the guiding beam and operate the onboard sensor for flying along the guiding beam towards the incoming threat. a tracking subsystem, a computer processing circuitry and a countermeasure subsystem; the tracking subsystem is configured, following receipt of a threat-indication, to track an incoming threat and provide threat track-data to the computer processing circuitry; the processing circuitry is configured to determine, based on the threat track-data, an estimated location of a guiding beam used for guiding the incoming threat; the system is configured to: generate instructions causing the countermeasure subsystem to launch at least one aerial platform, the aerial platform comprises an onboard sensor sensitive for detecting electromagnetic radiation of the guiding beam; and provide to the aerial platform the estimated location of the guiding beam, to thereby enable the aerial platform to locate the guiding beam and operate the onboard sensor for flying along the guiding beam towards the incoming threat.

Google Patents

https://patents.google.com/patent/US12535301

USPTO PDF

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/12535301