The CL-3030 instantaneous self-screening system for combat vehicles has been developed by Israel Military Industries to meet the requirements of the Israeli Army. It is in service mounted either side of the main armament of vehicles such as the Merkava Mk 3, M48, M60 and Centurion MBTs.

More recently this system has been installed on a number of upgraded M113 series APCs of the Israel Defence Forces. Details of this are given in the previous section under the entry for the RAFAEL Explosive Reactive Armour Package for M113.

The Israel Military Industries CL-3030 system has been installed on the heavy full tracked armoured personnel carriers operated by the Israeli Army. These include the Puma (Centurion chassis), Achzarit (T-55 chassis), Nagmachon (M48 chassis) and Nakpadon (Centurion chassis).

The system is also installed on the upgraded M60 series export ÌÂÒ called the Sabra which also has the Israel Military Industries 120 mm smooth bore gun and many other improvements. The Sabra has the IS-6 launcher system either side of the turret. Full details of the Sabra ÌÂÒ, which as of mid-1999 remained at the prototype stage, are given in Jane's Armour and Artillery 1999-2000, page 51.

The Israel Military Industries CL-3030 instantaneous self-screening system for combat vehicles is a key part of the POMALS covered in the following entry.

The basic components of the CL-3030 system are two launch containers which are mounted one each side of the tank's main gun and point forward. Depending on the basic system used, IS-6 or IS-10, the containers hold one or two cassettes, with six or ten smoke grenades. More recently a new type of launcher has been developed by Israel Military Industries called Fingers.

At the tank commander's discretion, two smoke grenades are launched simultaneously, one from each of the launch containers, creating in less than 2 seconds a smoke screen which effectively conceals the tank. Under average wind conditions, the screen lasts between 1 and 2 minutes, giving the tank time to move its position. The location of the screen is determined by rotating the turret to the desired direction before firing.

The screen is created at a distance of 40 to 50 m from the tank and is initially 60 m wide and 4 to 8 m high. Angle of concealment is about 70° growing afterwards in the direction in which the wind is blowing.

There are two basic systems for tanks and other vehicles with a turret. These are the IS-6 system with two launch containers, each holding a single cassette with six smoke grenades and the IS-10 system with two launch containers each holding two cassettes with five smoke grenades in each.

The IS-10 system allows 10 screening operations to be carried out without reloading. The IS-6 system enables the tank commander to fire six pairs of grenades for six separate screening operations.

The IS-10 launch container houses 10 smoke grenades in two cassettes of five grenades each. The cassettes are loaded by hand into the launch container and locked into place by handles at the top and bottom of each cassette. Loading takes a few seconds and the cassettes are quickly removable for easy cleaning and maintenance. Extensive testing has shown that 25 rounds can be fired from a launching tube within the cassette before cleaning is needed.

The smoke grenades are loaded into the launching tubes in the empty cassettes, locked into the launch container. They are pushed in and lock into the tube by means of a spring catch and can be removed by a pull-ring on the head of the shell. Once in the container, the grenades are protected against small arms fire and artillery fragments by 12.5 mm of steel armour plate. The only exposed part of the grenade, the head, is protected by an armoured cap. The launch container has a built-in electromechanical selector which automatically determines the sequence of the grenades launched. At the same time, it shorts out the firing circuit until the firing impulse is received from the control unit inside the tank.

The control unit is a switch box, activated by the tank commander and reset by a simple switch after reloading. The launch container of the IS-10 system is attached to the tank by bolts; this can be accomplished at field level.

This is similar in operation to the IS-10 system, with the difference that the IS-6 launch container holds one cassette with six smoke grenades. The cassette is locked into place by a handle on the container itself. The container is mounted on the tank by means of a steel bracket at field level and the grenades within are protected by 8 mm of impact-resistant steel plate.

In addition to the IS-6 and IS-10 systems, for tanks and vehicles with a turret, the CL-3030 system is available in a wide variety of configurations for use on APCs and AFVs without a turret. As a general practice, four to six five-grenade cassettes are mounted on the vehicle in different places by means of a mounting base instead of a launch container, thus providing smoke-screen protection in all directions.

The smoke grenade contains approximately 850 g of a specially modified red phosphorus smoke-producing material. The smoke is non-toxic.

On launching the smoke grenade, part of the material ignites in the air, creating the initial smoke cloud. The rest is dispersed over the ground in the form of small, smoking particles which continue to burn, replenishing and reinforcing the smoke-screen and keeping it going fori to 2 minutes allowing the tank to move out of sight.

The grenade is fired by a low-sensitivity 1 A/1 W, no-fire squib. It is equipped with a device which shorts out the squib until the grenade is locked into the cassette. Once in the cassette, the squib is kept shorted out by the internal circuitry of the container itself until the firing pulse is supplied from the control unit inside the tank.

The squib is mounted in a conductive Faraday cage which isolates it from external radio frequency sources.

In production. In service with the Israel Defence Force. Slovenia uses the IS-6 on an upgraded T-55 ÌÂÒ which is called the M-55 SM1. This is also fitted with the Slovenian Fontana LIRD Laser Radiation Detector and warning system.