Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. has announced that its TROPHY Active Protection System (APS) for armoured vehicles has been selected for the next phase of detailed assessment and integration by the UK Ministry of Defence for the British Army’s CHALLENGER 3 MBT. The selection is a result of a study conducted by the UK MoD as part of an upgrade programme led by prime contractor Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL), which will entail detailed integration and system trials of this lighter TROPHY variant (TROPHY MV), to fit the particular requirements of this vehicle.
Developed by Rafael in response to successful anti-armour attacks, the TROPHY APS provides mature, combat-proven protection against rocket and missile threats, simultaneously locating the origin of the hostile fire for immediate response. According to Rafael TROPHY is the only fully-integrated, combat-proven APS in the world and has been installed on the IDF’s MERKAVA tanks since 2010, and has also been installed on the NAMER APCs. The system has also been supplied to four US Army ABRAMS MBT brigades and will soon be supplied to Germany for a limited number of LEOPARD 2 MBTs.
TROPHY has made numerous combat interceptions with no injuries to crews, dismounted troops or damage to platforms since its first operational interception in 2011. It has accrued over 1,000,000 operating hours, including 5,400 successful field tests and is now under contract for serial production of over 1,800 systems, Rafael said in the press release.
Jack Richardson