Leonardo DRS, Inc. and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. 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. This marks a major milestone in the U.S. Army’s efforts to outfit multiple brigades of tanks with APS to protect soldiers’ lives against increasing anti-armor threats. 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.
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.”
Trophy (“Windbreaker”) is a military active protection system (APS) designed to protect vehicles from ATGMs, RPGs, anti-tank rockets, and tank HEAT rounds. A small number of explosively formed projectiles destroy incoming threats before they hit the vehicle. Its principal purpose is to supplement the armour of light and heavy armored fighting vehicles. Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. of Israel and currently fielding over 1,000 systems to all major Israeli ground combat platforms, as well as U.S. Abrams M1A1/2, and tested on the Stryker APCs and Bradley AFVs.
Trophy has been evaluated with extensive testing on a Stryker vehicle for possible adoption by the US Army, and a Canadian LAV III. The Army tested the Trophy system in 2017, to be fielded within two years as an interim capability until the Modular Active Protection System (MAPS) program produces a system. A 193 million dollar contract for Trophy was awarded to Leonardo DRS, Rafael’s American partner, in June 2018, in order to equip a significant number of Abrams M1A1/A2 MBTs with Trophy.While Leonardo DRS and Rafael have completed these initial Trophy system deliveries to the U.S. Army, the partnership is also under contract for additional support and development work for future U.S. Abrams tanks.