Posted on 10/12/2017 7:21:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On March 1, 2011 an Israeli Merkava IV tank on patrol along the Gaza periphery was fired upon by Hamas terrorists from concealed positions within Gaza. Using a deadly RPG-29, a more advanced version of the RPG-7, the terrorists waited for impact. But their moment of glory never transpired. As the anti-tank projectile neared its target, a revolutionary platform – the Trophy Armor Protection System (APS) – deployed on the Merkava IV detected the threat and instantly fired a number of pellets at the deadly menace, destroying and rendering it inert yards from the tank.
Barely three weeks later, Hamas terrorists experienced further failure. They once again attempted to engage a Trophy-equipped Merkava IV. This time, the Trophy calculated the missile’s trajectory and determined that the missile posed no threat, allowing it pass along harmlessly. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Based on the missiles flight path, the Trohy was able to determine the source of fire and transmitted the coordinates to the tank’s crew as well as to nearby units who instantly directed their accurate counter-fire toward the source of the attack, causing at least one terrorist casualty.
The Israeli made Trophy APS had instantly revolutionized armored warfare. It was the first time that such a system had been successfully deployed in battle and the results elated the army’s top brass as well as Trophy’s designers, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries' Elta Group. No longer would an armored vehicle have to rely on its own armor to defend against anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) and other forms of anti-tank threats. Tanks and other vehicles, such as armored personnel carriers and even HUMVEEs would henceforth go into battle with an active protection system designed to swat anti-tank missiles, shells and rockets as though they were pesky mosquitos.
Trophy works like a mini Iron Dome, another Israeli wonder weapon that intercepts and neutralizes short-range rocket threats, like Russian GRAD rockets, from the skies. It utilizes a combination of sensors and radar along with fire control technology and intercepting pellets to detect and neutralize incoming missile threats. A secondary feature enables the Trophy to accurately determine the source of fire and transmit the coordinates to nearby ground and air units through the Tzayad battlefield management system. All friendly units in the theater are instantly apprised of the enemy’s position making escape and evasion difficult.
Trophy proved its mettle once more during Operation Protective Edge, a seven-week counter insurgency campaign undertaken by the Israel Defense Forces against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza during the summer of 2014. During the operation, Trophy succeeded beyond all expectations, intercepting a variety of anti-tank threats. In fact, according to IDF sources, the Trophy system intercepted no less than 15 anti-tank missiles and rockets including the deadly Russian Kornet missile which is believed to be capable of penetrating 3.9 feet of armor and has a range of about 5,500 yards.
These missiles were used by the Iraqi army against American M1 Abrams tanks during Operation Iraqi Freedom and by Hezbollah against Israeli Merkava tanks during the Second Lebanon War. The Trophy system is an outgrowth of the Israeli experience during the Second Lebanon War and became operational some four years later. By 2010, an entire battalion of Merkava IV tanks had been outfitted with the Trophy. The Trophy has also been adopted for use in Israeli Namer & Eitan armored personnel carriers and there are plans in the works for deployment on naval craft.
Despite its revolutionary design features and battle-tested capabilities, the United States Army was initially hesitant in adopting the Trophy APS, preferring instead to see how a locally produced variant performed. But a confluence of emerging threats coupled with a new, no-nonsense attitude adopted by Trump’s secretary of defense, James Mattis, has finally convinced the U.S. Army to adopt the Trophy APS for its M1A2 tanks, at least in limited numbers.
A Trophy-equipped brigade of over 80 Abrams tanks is slated to be deployed to the European theater by 2020 to counter recent Russian aggressive actions, which include the seizure and occupation of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine as well as menacing, large-scale military exercises including one ominously code-named, “Zapad 17.” Zapad is Russian for “West.”
Some U.S. Army Abrams tanks are fitted with reactive armor tile, which is designed to deflect the penetrating blast away from tanks. That system has proved to be effective against some rocket and missile threats but later generation missiles, such as the Kornet, are equipped with tandem or dual warheads. The first charge destroys the tanks protective reactive armor allowing the second and more lethal charge to hit the tank.
According to Col. Glenn Dean, the Project Manager of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Combat Ground Systems, of live-fire testing at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, the Israeli Trophy APS “exceeded [his] expectations.” He noted that during testing, he “tried to kill the Abrams tank 48 times and failed.” New procedures adopted by the Department of Defense allowed for a streamlined acquisitions process, bypassing the usual bureaucratic red tape resulting in quicker deployment of the Trophy.
The U.S. and Israeli militaries have always maintained close ties despite malevolent efforts by the Obama administration to sour relations. The two militaries share common symmetrical and asymmetrical threats and represent beacons of strength and stability in a world threatened by apocalyptic mullahs and petty dictators with imperialistic designs. The acquisition of the Trophy by the U.S. military further underscores the closeness of the relationship and advances the shared interests of two great democracies with winning traditions.
My next dog will be a female, and I will name her "Karma".
Awesome.
And I think it underscores the value of something like the A-10. Armor may be protected from foot soldiers with RPGs but if your opponent has air superiority and really good Close Support capability, then armor is not safe.
Cool
It would seem the way to get past this system is to overwhelm it or to produce an RPG that travels faster than the system can target.
Very impressive. I’d like to see reactive armor on the south side of our new border wall.
I wonder if the civilian version of the Trophy system can help me hit more geese.
With a sufficiently successful active defense system, there becomes no need for the actual heavy armor.
At some point you will just need armor thick enough to stop bullets, and then you can rely on the active defense system to stop anything larger.
This may allow for future tanks that are much lighter and faster. Of course we are moving into the territory of not needing manned tanks at all.
Skynet is coming.
The Secret Service should looking into adding this item to the President security details.
“Pellets”?
FReeper Jeff Head predicted this technology almost 20 years ago. His pellets (steel BBs) were mounted on cruise missiles, IIRC, and they shot out as they passed a target.
Here's the kind of bullet your armor has to stop:
Depleted uranium penetrater, secondary shaped warhead, plus a third charge inside to blow it into the tank.
Those are just plain mean. And destructive enough to take down giant robots.
Also the current acquisition system is so badly broken that's why the taxpayers are being hugely over billed for everything sold to our military and the accounting shows 6.5 Trillion dollars missing & unaccounted for over the years.
Again hats off to Israeli tech & innovation, did you know that their version of the Patriot missile is far better and only cost 10% of what we sell ours for? So I'm not talking like how the Chinese steal & copy our tech and you get an inferior products for a basement price.
Even their latest battle rifle Tavor is a sweetheart! I was planning to buy 1 some while ago and now they have improved on it with the Tavor x95 version. Its a Beauty to see & use. The only complaint I may have it that as a bullpup rifle you can't use the cmag 100 round magazine on it though the after market 60 rounds work ok.
Now you Know that’s cheating. Your shooting really suck if you need one but I guess I can forgive you if you really need it to put meat on the table (wink wink). Just don’t tell me you need a few claymore to bag those feral hogs.
Note to self: When prone, and you hear an M1 come up close by: UN-ASS THE AO!
Reads like a Sears advert.
Since armor should have ground troops in concert - what happens to snuffie when the Trophy system fires? Grunt smoothie?
Fire one RPG, wait a bit, fire #2. RPG are cheaper than the CM system. Or, since the RPGs are cheap, the baddie fire a swarm of rockets....
Seems to work for the IDF in a limited set of circumstance, would not want to bet my left on it.
“A Trophy-equipped brigade of over 80 Abrams tanks is slated to be deployed to the European theater by 2020 to counter recent Russian aggressive actions...”
What foolishness! Our tanks in Europe haven’t faced any actual threat in decades, but those in the middle east actually have enemies who habitually lob missiles at them. Why wouldn’t we deploy the system where it could actually do some good?
Ping
“Just don’t tell me you need a few claymore to bag those feral hogs.”
Nah, napalm is better. You get the whole herd and it cooks em for you at the same time!
All yOJ, military training cerebrate ... start think what changes maje
This raises the question, why hasn’t our own R&D come up with something like this? Eight years of Obama?
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