Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced on Wednesday that it has completed the delivery of Trophy Active Protection Systems (APS) ordered by the US Army for installation on Abrams main battle tanks.
The project was carried out with Rafael’s partner, Leonardo DRS, Inc.
The delivery marks a major milestone in the US Army’s effort to install many brigades of tanks with APS to shield soldiers from increasing anti-armor threats, a joint Rafael and Leonardo statement said.
Under contracts awarded on an urgent-need basis by the Army’s Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems, the companies delivered the first APS in September 2019 for both the US Army and US Marine Corps. A joint team of government and industry from the US and Israel worked together to adapt and integrate the equipment.
This delivery caps a multi-year effort by the Army to study and rapidly field active protection due to the urgency of the threat and the growing need for improved ground vehicle survivability.
VP Michael Lurie, the head of Rafael’s Land Survivability and Maneuverability directorate, said that with partner Leonardo DRS, the systems were delivered on time despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michael Lurie, VP, head of Rafael's Land Survivability and Maneuverability directorate said that "Rafael is a leader in providing protection capabilities, both reactive armor, and active protection. The threat of anti-armor weapons is growing, and we were grateful to bring this life-saving technology to the US to meet an urgent need.“While COVID-19 created challenges for on-time deliveries, we used our resources and capabilities to facilitate on-schedule deliveries. With our partner Leonardo DRS, we remain committed to supporting the Army and providing increased protection to US forces on a timely basis.”Aaron Hankins, senior vice president, and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Land Systems business unit said: “It has been an honor to deliver these advanced defensive protection systems for our front-line tanks to give our warfighters a needed layer of survivability against real and emerging battlefield threats.“Together with our Rafael partners, we worked tirelessly to ensure we met our customers’ needs while delivering ahead of schedule, and we look forward to supporting them with APS in the future,” he said.
Developed by Rafael, Trophy APS provides combat-proven protection against rockets and missiles while simultaneously locating and reporting the origin of the hostile fire for an immediate response, Rafael said. It is the only fully integrated, combat-proven APS in the world.
In addition to the US Abrams tanks, Trophy is currently installed on the Israel Defense Forces’ Merkava Main Battle Tanks and Namer APCs.
It has made numerous combat interceptions with no injuries to crews, dismounted troops, or damage to platforms since its first operational interception in 2011.
According to Rafael, the Trophy system underwent over 5,000 successful field tests, and accrued over 1,000,000 operating hours, and is now under contract for serial production of over 1,800 systems.