With the delivery of the last TROPHY Active Protection System (APS) at the end of 2020, the equipment for four Armoured Brigade Combat Teams (ABCT) of the US Army and the US Marine Corps has been completed. In 2018, the US Army ordered the TROPHY APS from Leonardo DRS and Rafael for a total of 336 ABRAMS Main Battle Tanks (MBT) for the equivalent of more than €400M. Deliveries began in September 2019 and a complementary contract worth almost €160M was concluded for operational support.
TROPHY monitors the battlefield with radar sensors, detects approaching projectiles and classifies them. Detected threats are tracked and the optimal engagement point is determined. The crew is warned and the incoming projectile is neutralised with a Multiple Explosively Formed Projectile (MEFP) before the threat imperils the platform and its crew. The defence spectrum includes anti-tank missiles, rockets and High Energy Anti-Tank (HEAT) projectiles, including short-range and hand-held weapons such as Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG).
Israel has been using the TROPHY on its MERKAVA IV MBTs for about ten years and on its NAMER Infantry Fighting Vehicles for five. Rafael points to 5,000 successful deployments and more than one million hours of operation for the TROPHY with the Israel Defence Forces.
At the beginning of 2019, the Bundeswehr announced that it would order TROPHY to equip 17 LEOPARD 2 A7 MBTs to be deployed in the NATO spearhead VJTF 2023. The project is on the agenda for €25M procedure for parliamentary acceptance in the first half of 2021. That means that delivery could begin this year and the troops would have just enough time for training on the new system.
Gerhard Heiming
