Airbus to equip German Armed Forces vehicles with electronic system for protection against explosive devices

The German procurement authority awarded Airbus a contract to supply 36 jammers of type VPJ-R6

Airbus Defence and Space will equip vehicles of the German Armed Forces with an electronic system for the protection against improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The German procurement authority BAAINBw has awarded the company a contract worth several million euros to supply 36 jammers of the type VPJ-R6 (VPJ = Vehicle Protection Jammer). The systems are intended to be integrated into protected vehicles of the German Armed Forces.

The Vehicle Protection Jammer uses the ultra-fast SMART Responsive Jamming Technology developed by Airbus Defence and Space to substantially enhance protection compared to conventional systems. It detects and identifies radio signals intended to detonate roadside bombs. After detection and classification, it transmits real-time jamming signals, which precisely match the hostile frequency band, thus interrupting the connection between assassin and bomb.

Thanks to new digital receiver and signal processing technologies, the system achieves reaction times of well below a millisecond. Up to 750.000 threat signals in all common frequency bands can be detected and jammed each second. The jamming power is focused on the detonation signal’s specific frequency instead of being distributed over the whole frequency range, as is the case in conventional systems. In this way less energy is required, while the jamming effect is increased at the same time. Moreover, this also reduces the impact on friendly forces’ radio communication, which means that reliable command and control can be ensured.