“This agreement represents a shared commitment to advancing battlefield survivability for next-generation armored platforms,” said Tzvi Marmor, Rafael’s executive vice president and head of land and naval systems division, according to a company announcement.
The system is already in use on Israeli armored vehicles, and is being upgraded based on Israel's experience in the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Sixth Domain is not defined by geography. It’s a new kind of conflict in which autonomy and networked systems allow thousand-dollar consumer electronics to destroy multi-million-dollar conventional weapons systems.
The new joint venture will focus its business activity on the European market, including growing existing buys in Germany and the UK, a senior company official told Breaking Defense.
Israeli manufacturer Rafael claims it’s worked with the Army to get the weight of the anti-missile system down below a ton – and it’ll still protect the lightly armored Stryker as effectively as the full-size system protects the massive M1 Abrams.
Miniaturized missile defenses work well on heavy tanks, but efforts to fit such Active Protection Systems on light vehicles like Stryker have failed – so far. Now the Army will test two lightweight options: Rafael’s Trophy VPS and Rheinmetall’s ADS.
If there’s one thing that Army leadership agrees upon, it’s the need for improved survivability of soldiers and machines against modern anti-tank weapons like the Russian Kornet and Chinese HJ-8 guided missiles, as well as Russia’s tandem warhead RPG-29 rocket propelled grenade that can bore a hole into a tank with a molten jet of metal.
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
"We are heavily in the Army sensor market and network computing. That's where we're able to improve our position," Lynn told me. "It's creating new markets that's been the key."
Leonardo DRS keeps on keeping SOCOM connected.
Last month, the Army committed to buying an initial brigade's-worth of the Iron Fist Active Protection System for the M2 Bradley. Meanwhile, with Tuesday morning's announcement, the US is spending over $200 million to install the rival Trophy APS on not only Army but Marine Corps M1 Abrams tanks.
WASHINGTON: Seeking to stop Russian-made anti-tank missiles, the US Army will buy Israel’s Iron Fist Active Protection System for a brigade of its M2 Bradley armored vehicles, Breaking Defense has learned. The decision comes after weeks of confusing statements by Army officials and months of delays fitting the high-tech active protection on a Cold War-vintage […]
Breaking Defense Europe will launch May 4 with Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo as co-editors.
The latest version of Israel's Trophy defense system stopped more than 95 percent of roughly 300 missiles and rockets shot at it in Israeli tests this summer, laying the groundwork for US Army testing this fall on the 8x8 Stryker armored vehicle.
By 2022, the service plans to field new advanced reactive armor tiles to neutralize incoming warheads, a laser early warning system to warn crews they're being targeted, and a signature management effort to avoid detection in the first place.
As the US tightens its terms for financing the Israeli military, one of America's closest allies is beginning to sell its weapons to the US, instead of the other way around.
"Once the US companies come on line," Gen. Milley said, "the intent is to outfit the entire heavy force — the Bradleys, the tanks, any future combat vehicles — with active protective systems.”