Carlton Meyer
Generals prefer equipment that looks neat and clean. Unfortunately, this fetish has prevented superior protection for armored vehicles. During the Vietnam conflict, armor personnel carriers were often destroyed by simple shoulder-fired rockets. GIs tried several methods for protection, and discovered that rolls of chain-link fence worked extremely well. The flexibility and space they offered disrupted the explosive force of a shaped charge so that it was unable to penetrate their outer armor.
The Israeli Army faced a similar problem and developed an even better idea, balls and chains. Heavy chains dangling in front of armor weighted down with steel balls. When a rocket or missile strikes the chains it explodes. Since the chains are not rigid, they move and absorb the blast so that it lacks the force to penetrate the armor.
It would be simple to mount chains on the front of American armored personnel carriers. They could be attached to a bar which extends two feet in front of the vehicle. Heavy chains would hang down to about one foot from the ground. This bar could be folded back when not needed to save storage and shipping space. The bar, chains, and balls would add a couple hundred pounds to the weight of each vehicle. However, the protection provided far outweighs this drawback.
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e-mail May 1998