Close-Range Active Defense (CARD) munitions are proposed by RUAG as means for active protection of armored fighting vehicles, threatened by infantry and anti-tank weapons at close or medium range. When deployed in urban combat, such vehicles are often engaging targets at very close ranges, where employment of the main gun or automatic cannons is not effective. For these situations, CARD offers an effective means to deliver fragments at close range, even behind protection.
CARD uses controlled fragmentation technology which is already implemented in the 81 and 60mm MAPAM (Mortar Anti-Personnel Anti-Material bombs) which guarantees that all fragments are of the same size and energy, contributing to increased lethality and well defined safety zones (for accompanying troops). Each CARD is lauched from standard smoke launchers to a range of 35m’ and is programmed to burst at a height of 2-7 meters above surface, generating over 1,000 0.3 gram fragments. CARD can be launched from standard smoke launchers which can be turned into an active defense system. RUAG plans to have CARD in low rate production for testing by late 2004 and will be able to deliver the system by mid 2005.
