The Sarab Active Protection System (Mirage) is an active protection system, developed by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS) and designed to help the Syrian Army’s T-55, T-62, T-72 and T-72 Adra tanks counter line of sight anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).^[1]

Syrian intelligence acquired 18 Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missiles from the Free Syrian Army; these missiles were used by the CERS to develop a countermeasure.^[2] The resulting soft-kill system incorporated powerful infrared (IR) jamming lights which were 80% effective against ATGMs.^[1][3] This has significantly reduced Syrian tank losses during the Syrian civil war.

Sarab can effectively jam SACLOS missiles such as the TOW (also TOW 2), HOT, MILAN, Dragon, 9K115-2 Metis-M, 9M113 Konkurs and Malyutka and laser guided weapons such as the Copperhead and some variants of the Maverick and Hellfire.^[1]

As of 2017^[update], the Sarab (Mirage) system has three versions:

• Sarab-1 was introduced in early 2016. Using multiple IR emitters mounted on a tank turret, it covers the 180° frontal arc of the tank and can operate for 6 hours.
• Sarab-2 entered service at the end of 2016. It includes a protective casing and uses less power, letting it operate continuously for up to 10 hours.^[4]
• Sarab-3 was introduced in 2017. Unlike the prior variants, it provides full 360 degree protection by using more IR emitters.^[1][5]

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  Syria – Syrian Armed Forces^[6]