Finmeccanica’s DRS Technologies Inc. said Friday that in cooperation with General Dynamics [GD] it has successfully completed a 10-month combat vehicle integration and live-fire testing program featuring active protection technology.
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| Active Protection Bubble Image: IDF |
As part of its strategic initiative to demonstrate next generation anti-armor survivability technologies for its combat vehicle fleets, and following an international tender process, GD chose the combat-proven Trophy Active Protection System for its full-scale integration and testing program as part of a technology demonstration for Canada on a General Dynamics LAV III armored vehicle.
DRS and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, partners on the Trophy system, worked closely with GD to perform the detailed mechanical, electrical, and electronic systems design integration and installation of the Trophy system on the LAV III without degrading the original performance level of the vehicle.
The Rafael system has been extensively examined in the United States, going back to 2006, when an earlier version of the Trophy system was mounted on a General Dynamics Stryker vehicle and underwent tests to include live-fire testing at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. (Defense Daily, April 6, 2006). Those tests followed extensive testing in Israel.
In 2005, General Dynamics and Rafael signed a teaming agreement to introduce Trophy to the United States–an agreement which subsequently lapsed.
In 2011, Rafael’s Trophy system, again mounted on a Stryker vehicle, completed a six-week test and evaluation program for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) (Defense Daily, March 1, 2011). The test results were presented to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Army representatives.
Following a series of mobility trials to stress the Active Protection integration on the vehicle, the system underwent a comprehensive, three-month live-fire test regimen at a Canadian test range against multiple rocket-propelled grenade variants, recoilless rifle, and anti-tank guided missiles.
These tests were performed in various challenging engagement scenarios–including short range, moving vehicle, multiple threats, and high clutter environments. Besides performance testing to validate the system functionality, additional test data included arena sampling for collateral effects, residual penetration, vehicle/crew safety, and electronic safe/arm performance.
“The successful performance of Trophy during the test program, coupled with the robustness of the vehicle integration design, demonstrates that Active Protection technology–and the Trophy system in particular–is both effective and mature,” said Joseph Matteoni, vice president/general manager of DRS Sustainment Systems Inc. “We owe it to our troops to do the utmost to avoid another IED-like surprise on the next battlefield.”
Trophy has been fielded in large numbers to tank units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and has proven to save lives in several documented combat engagements. Capable of defeating the full spectrum of direct fire, anti-armor rockets, missiles, and tank-fired high-explosive rounds, the system rapidly detects and tracks an incoming threat, classifies it, computes the optimal intercept point in space, and, if necessary, neutralizes it away from the platform. Additionally, the system reduces the probability of collateral injury in the vehicle vicinity to below one percent.
Trophy also calculates the location of the shooter, alerts the crew for immediate action, and reports the engagement to the battle management network for situational awareness across the formation.