General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) unveiled the ASCOD infantry fighting vehicle equipped with the Trophy active protection system at the Black Sea Defence and Aerospace (BSDA) exhibition held from May 22-24 in Bucharest. The BSDA exhibition provides a platform for GDELS to showcase this cutting-edge technology to military officials and defense industry representatives. Romania has a budget of $3.3 billion for 298 infantry fighting vehicles. According to local observers and public information, the potential candidates are the ASCOD 2, the Hanwha AS-21 Redback, and the Rheinmetall KF-41 Lynx. The award procedure is ongoing, a winner will be selected in 2024, and the contract should also be signed in 2024.
The ASCOD (Austrian Spanish Cooperation Development) infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) family is the product of a cooperation agreement between Austrian Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG and Spanish General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas. Both companies are now divisions of a unit of General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS). The ASCOD family includes the LT 105 light tank equipped with a 105 mm gun, a surface-to-air missile launcher, an anti-tank guided missile launcher, mortar carrier, R&R vehicle, command-and-control vehicle, ambulance, artillery observer, and the AIFV model. In Spanish Army service, the vehicle is called “Pizarro”. The Austrian Army version is called “Ulan”.
An improved version of the ASCOD, called ASCOD 2, has been developed by General Dynamics and was presented in 2004. The ASCOD 2 uses the more powerful MTU 8V 199T21 engine, which provides a 600 kilowatts (800 hp) output, together with a Renk HSWL 256 B transmission and Diehl 1028 tracks. It has an increased gross vehicle weight of 38 tons, with a growth potential to 42 tons. The ASCOD 2 has been presented as an IFV (with the SP-30 turret of the original ASCOD), as an APC with a raised roof and armed with an M2 machine gun (in a BAE Lemur remote weapon station) and as a specialized APC for urban combat (designated the ASCOD PSO).
Trophy is a military armored vehicle active protection system (APS) designed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Its principal purpose is to supplement the armor of light and heavy armored fighting vehicles. The system is in active use on Merkava Mark 3 & 4 and Namer APCs and U.S. Abrams M1A1/2, and tested on the Stryker APCs and Bradley Fighting Vehicles (BFVs). Trophy protects against a wide variety of anti-tank threats, while also enhancing the vehicle’s ability to identify enemy location to crews and combat formation, thereby providing greater survivability in numerous combat environments. EuroTrophy GmbH is the European hub for the marketing, sale and production of Trophy® Active Protection System (APS).
