Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) announced on 11 November that they have signed an agreement to form a Joint Venture company to market the Trophy active protection system (APS) in Europe. A new Germany-based JV called EuroTrophy will provide potential marketing opportunities, sales and production of the Trophy active protection system in Europe.Subject to antitrust clearance and other regulatory approvals, the new company is expected to be established by the end of this year. It is expected to be established by late 2021.
EuroTrophy will be a Germany-based company that will provide potential marketing opportunities, sales and production of this APS in the region. Germany was the first European nation to choose Trophy to protect part of its Leopard 2 main battle tank fleet. The system recently underwent live-fire trials with the German Army. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) also released in November a £4.49 million ($6.6 million) contract award for Trophy trials under Phase 2A of the Challenger 2 Life Extension Project (LEP). It will also supply potential vehicle integration services and related through-life support of Trophy.
KMW’s CEO, Ralf Ketzel, “Our joint strategic move to establish the EuroTrophy joint venture is a clear commitment to Germany as a prime business location and underscores the importance of active protection systems. On today’s and tomorrow’s battlefields, they will be an important building block for the crew’s endurance, effectiveness and protection.”
“The establishment of a European joint venture for Trophy is a strategic milestone for Rafael, which speaks volumes of the confidence that European companies have in Trophy as a life-saving system. Germany was the first European nation to choose Trophy to protect its MBT’s, joining the US,” Rafael’s president and CEO, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Yoav Har-Even, said.
“With EuroTrophy, we will make a significant step into an important adjacent market for military vehicles since advanced protection technologies will play a crucial role for crew survivability in the future. The establishment of a joint company in Germany is also a clear sign of our commitment to our German and European customers and to international industrial cooperation,” GDELS president Alfonso Ramonet added.
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 (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.