The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is set to deploy tanks fitted with a new active armor protection system along the Gaza Strip, a move which comes in the wake of intelligence assessments indicating a rising threat of anti-tank missile attacks by militant groups.

Deployment of the Me'il Ruach (Windbreaker) system is scheduled to begin in January. The system was developed by Rafael, a division of the Israeli Defense Ministry, after the 2006 Lebanon war, when numerous IDF tanks sustained lethal hits from Hezbollah- fired missiles.

"Windbreaker is integrated into the tank and identifies any projectile fired at it, whether a missile or armor-piercing shell. It then fires active counter-measures 'miniature interceptor missiles' which blow up the incoming projectile in mid-air before it strikes the tank," local news service Ynet quoted a senior IDF officer on Sunday.

"The system can also accurately detect the area from which the projectile was fired and shoot back at the enemy," he added.

The IDF on Wednesday will hold an unusual field test of Windbreaker: an actual missile will be fired at a real tank manned by a human crew.

The test will be held in northern Israel. A five-man crew will participate in the experiment, meant to demonstrate the system's credibility, Israel Army Radio reported on Sunday.

Army officials on Monday dismissed local media reports from the day before that a missile armed with a real warhead would be used in the field trial, saying the IDF had never planned to fire live ordnance. Bereaved parents of soldiers killed in training accidents implored IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi to call off the drill.

"In the framework of the test, a dummy round (which does not contain a warhead or explosive) that will not endanger the troops in the vehicle will be fired," the IDF Spokesperson's Office told Xinhua on Monday.

A defense official told Xinhua that the missile is inert and cannot cause damage, even if the active defensive system does not work, or if there is a malfunction in the tank, or an "error" by the crew within.

The Merkava Mark IV, the army's most advanced main battle tank, will be the first in the Armored Corps to incorporate Windbreaker. The army plans to equip two additional battalions with the system by mid-2011.

An IDF tank was hit by an anti-tank missile in the northern Gaza Strip area two weeks ago, but its crew was unharmed. Aside from the new system, the IDF may have to change its tactics along the border and limit the exposure of its tanks, an Israeli newspaper reported on Monday.

Despite the high confidence in Windbreaker, the senior officers emphasize to their troops that no system, as advanced as it may be, is 100 percent immune to threats.

It "seems that there's nothing that can provide total protection," Col. Einav Shalev, commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, said of the prospect of a possible conflict in Lebanon in an interview with Army Radio on Sunday.

"What we can do is to teach the soldiers maneuvers and techniques that will enable them to deal with threats in wartime," he said.

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