Leonardo DRS and Israel’s Rafael have delivered the Army’s first order of TROPHY active protection systems (APS) to be integrated on Abrams tanks, the companies said Friday.

The Army previously awarded a $79.6 million initial order to Leonardo DRS for the anti-tank missile capability, and the recent delivery is the first of several as the service looks to eventually integrate TROPHY APS on four brigades of Abrams.

Leonardo’s Trophy APS, developed by Rafael, on an Army M1 Abrams Tank. Photo: Leonardo DRS

“We are proud to deliver the first advanced defensive protection systems for our front-line tanks to give our warfighters a needed layer of survivability against real and emerging battlefield threats,” Bill Lynn, CEO of Leonardo DRS, said in a statement. “Our partnership between Leonardo DRS and Rafael has worked tirelessly to bring this battle-proven technology to the U.S. military while improving the system to meet the stringent needs and requirements from the customer.”

Leonardo DRS said the delivery follows a multi-year qualification process to work through integration of the APS, which is designed to protect tanks from threats such as anti-tank guided missiles and rocket propelled grenades.

The Army awarded Leonardo DRS and Rafael $193 million in June 2018 to move ahead with TROPHY integration on Abrams as it looked to find a mature, developed APS offering (Defense Daily, June 24 2018). 

The $79.6 million initial order, announced in January, brough the total value for the TROPHY program to over $200 million, as the Army looks to rapidly integrate the APS on its tanks as well as Marine Corps’ Abrams (Defense Daily, Jan. 8). 

The two companies have also proposed a lighter version of the capability, TROPHY VPS, for the Army’s Bradleys and Strykers. TROPHY VPS is 40 percent lighter than its APS counterpart.

Leonardo DRS and Rafael held a live-fire demonstration in Israel in 2018 with TROPHY VPS integrated on a Bradley (Defense Daily, Sept. 24 2018).