Following the government-to-government (G to G) agreement signed last February, the German Federal Ministry of Defense (Bundesministerium der Verteidigung) and the Israel Ministry of Defense (Misrad HaBitahon) have completed the first series of successful live fire tests of the Rafael TROPHY active protection system (APS) installed on German Army (Deutsches Heer) Leopard 2A7 main battle tanks. The trials on the TROPHY were carried out by the German Ministry of Defense with the support of the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), and included challenging scenarios for the platform.
The German Army decided to equip its main battle tanks with the Trophy active protection system because “modern anti-tank guided missiles pose a significant threat” and already in use on Israeli and American tanks. The 23 Trophy active protection system sets and 586 interceptors sought by Germany come with a price tag of $48 million. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is the contractor to install Trophy components on the tanks in the course of an upgrade from the Leopard 2A6-A3 configuration to the Leopard 2 A7-A1 (Leopard 2A7V) version. The 17 operational main battle tanks plus one reference type for testing. The systems will be delivered over the next several years. KMW stands to get roughly double that for the integration work, which will leave the government with 18 main battle tank hulls no longer needed after the upgrade.
Trophy 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 (Merkava Mark 3 & 4 and Namer APCs), as well as U.S. Abrams M1A1/2, and tested on the Stryker APCs and Bradley AFVs. Trophy protects against a wide variety of anti-tank threats, while also maximizing the vehicle’s ability to identify enemy location to crews and combat formation, thereby providing greater survivability and maneuverability in all combat theatres.
The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, and is powered by a V-12 twin-turbo diesel engine. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and 12 other European countries, as well as several non-European nations, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore, and Turkey. The Leopard 2 A7+ was first shown to the public during the Eurosatory 2010, featuring the label “Developed by KMW – tested and qualified by the German Ministry of Defence”. The Leopard 2 A7+ has been tested by the Bundeswehr under the name UrbOp (urban operations).
