BAE Systems has been awarded the Soft Kill Active Protection System (APS) program of record by the U.S. Army, equipping ground vehicles with advanced electronic warfare capabilities. The program leverages BAE Systems’ Rapid Optical Observation and Kill (ROOK) system to disrupt and defeat incoming threats, including unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and anti-tank guided missiles, enhancing crew and vehicle survivability and mission effectiveness. ROOK is a leading soft-kill countermeasure system, providing improved situational awareness and threat response in complex battlefield conditions. The system’s electronic countermeasures defeat threats before they reach the vehicle by confusing or jamming their guidance systems. This renders the threats ineffective while preserving the limited magazine depth of hard-kill kinetic countermeasures.
“Modern ground warfare demands a layered defense, and soft-kill technologies are a critical, complementary component,” said Dave Gillespie, director of Optics and Countermeasure Solutions at BAE Systems. “ROOK offers a cost-effective, sustainable defense with an infinite magazine depth, continuously disrupting enemy systems.”
The Soft Kill APS program builds on core research and development programs, and it supports the Army’s commitment to rapidly field robust and adaptable active protection systems. The contract will also support further development of BAE Systems’ Stormcrow™ and TERRA RAVEN™ countermeasure systems and the delivery of prototype systems for vehicle integration and testing. BAE Systems is a leader in full-spectrum electromagnetic warfare technology that has provided combat-proven survivability equipment to the U.S. Department of War and its allies for decades. The company’s next-generation systems are part of its Intrepid Shield™ layered approach to platform protection. BAE Systems’ vehicle protection systems are developed and manufactured at the company’s state-of-the-art facility in Austin, Texas, with research and development support in Merrimack, New Hampshire.
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational aerospace, arms and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe and the sixth largest in the world based on applicable 2024 revenues. Its largest operations are in the United Kingdom and in the United States, where its BAE Systems Inc. subsidiary is one of the six largest suppliers to the US Department of Defense. Its next biggest markets are Saudi Arabia, then Australia; other major markets include Canada, Japan, India, Turkey, Qatar, Oman and Sweden. The company was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion purchase of and merger of Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc (GEC), with British Aerospace, an aircraft, munitions and naval systems manufacturer.
