Shtora is a Russian electro-optical countermeasures suite, designed to disrupt the laser target designation and rangefinders of incoming ATGMs.
The system is mounted on the T-80 and T-90 series tanks.
Shtora-1 is an electro-optical jammer that jams the enemy's semiautomatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) antitank guided missiles, laser rangefinders and target designators. Shtora-1 is actually a soft kill, or countermeasures system. It is most effective when used in tandem with a hard kill system such as the Arena (active countermeasures system). During the International Defense Exposition (IDEX) held in Abu Dhabi in 1995, the system was shown fitted to a Russian MBT. The first known application of the system is the Russian T-90 MBT that entered service in the Russian Army in 1993.
The Shtora-1 system comprises four key components, the electro-optical interface station, which includes a jammer, modulator, and control panel; a bank of forward-firing grenade dischargers mounted on either side of the turret that are capable of firing grenades dispensing an aerosol screen; a laser warning system with precision and coarse heads; and a control system comprising control panel, microprocessor, and manual screen-laying panel. This processes the information from the sensors and activates the aerosol screen-laying system. Two infrared lights, one on each side of the main gun, continuously emit coded pulsed infrared jamming when an incoming ATGM has been detected. Shtora-1 has a field of view of 360 degrees horizontally and -5 to +25 degrees in elevation. It contains 12 aerosol screen launchers and weighs 400 kg. The screening aerosol takes less than 3 seconds to form and lasts about 20 seconds. The screen laying range is between 50 to 70 meters.
