From Task&Purpose by Jared Keller 21-7-2020
https://tinyurl.com/y23zzlg2
Army
tanks deployed to Europe as part of the service's largest exercise in years are
rocking a new piece of sophisticated military tech: an active protection system
designed to protect against anti-tank missiles.
Photos released on July 10 ahead of the second phase
of the Army's Defense Europe exercise show an M1 Abrams main battle tank
rocking an Israeli-made Trophy Active Protection System (APS) as the vehicle is
loaded onto a heavy equipment transport at the Bergen-Hohne Training Area
in Germany.
According
to a U.S. Army Europe spokesman, the 18th Military Police Brigade drew,
installed and fielded the Trophy system from the Army Prepositioned Stock onto
8 M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks at the training area earlier this month.
An
M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank is loaded on an M1300 Heavy Equipment Transport
System at Bergen-Hohne Training Area, Germany, July 10, 2020 prior to
phase two of DEFENDER-Europe 20.
The
Trophy APS is designed to intercept and destroy incoming anti-armor missiles
and other guided rockets "with a shotgun-like blast," as Army
Recognition, which first reported the
fielding of the system, put it.
In
2018, the Army awarded Leonardo
DRS a $193 million contract to equip the service’s M1A2 SEP v2 main battle
tanks with the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems-developed Trophy APS
to provide "a high level of performance, safety, and life-cycle
affordability.”
The
Trophy system "works by using radar to provide continuous 360-degree
protection of the vehicle," according to
The National Interest. "Once a threat is detected, the system launches a
'tight pattern of explosively formed penetrators' that destroys the incoming
round before impact."
The
Trophy system can also trace the origin of hostile fire to locate a potential
adversary, allowing a tank crew to almost immediately return fire.
Leonardo
and Rafael (lol) delivered their first Trophy APS to the Army in October 2019,
the companies announced at the time, with plans to
ultimately outfit four brigades of Abrams tanks with the anti-armor system.
First
deployed on Israel's Merkava tanks in 2011, Rafael says that
the Trophy APS is the only combat-proven system of its kind currently in
service around the world, although Star and Stripes reports that multiple countries — including
China, Ukraine, and South Korea — are developing similar systems.
The
Army had previously planned on testing the system for the first time during the
Defense Europe exercises, as Stars and Stripes reported at the time, although the global
novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced the U.S. and its allies to
drastically scale back what was once billed as the largest European military
exercise in decades.
It's
unclear how many Abrams tanks deployed to Europe are currently outfitted with
the Trophy APS. According to U.S. Army Europe, the installed systems were
removed shortly after their installation.
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