Method and apparatus for protecting vehicles and personnel against incoming projectiles

A projector of multiple skewed light planes or sheets is located adjacent a vehicle to be protected and detectors are arranged to detect the penetration of the light sheets by an incoming object, with the time intervals between the piercing of the planes defining the path of the incoming object and its expected impact time. An array of bullet-firing barrels is arranged to project bullets in an iron curtain under control of a fire control module that fires a round in a barrel above the projected flight path such that the round impacts the nose of the object and disables it. It is thus the piercing of the skewed light sheets that provides information as to the impact point of the object as well as its time of arrival so that a round can be fired to intercept the object as it arrives at the iron curtain.