US Army receives final Trophy systems

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has completed deliveries of the Trophy Active Protection System (APS) to the US Army, working in partnership with Leonardo DRS.

This marks the culmination of a a multi-year effort by the US Army to ‘study and rapidly field active protection due to the urgency of the threat and the growing need for improved ground vehicle survivability’, Rafael noted in a 6 January statement.

Trophy is being installed on Abrams MBTs under an urgent contract awarded in 2019 by the US Army Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems. The first APS systems were duly provided to the army and USMC in September 2019, for integration with their Abrams variants.

In addition to Abrams (pictured), Trophy is installed on the Merkava MBTs and Namer APCs operated by the Israel Defense Forces.

‘It has made numerous combat interceptions with no injuries to crews, dismounted troops or damage to platforms since its first operational interception in 2011,’ Rafael claimed.

Leonardo DRS and Rafael are under contract from the US Army for additional support and development work on future Abrams variants. 

The army is also assessing the smaller and lighter-weight Trophy Vehicle Protection System that is designed to protect a broader range of US ground combat vehicles.

Shephard Defence Insight notes that an even lighter version, called Trophy LV, is designed for vehicles weighing under 8t, imposing a weight penalty of 200kg.

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