PENTAGON GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO INSTALL ISRAELI Trophy APS ON U.S Abrams TANKS

[DavidSling]

BY ANNA AHRONHEIM

OCTOBER 2, 2017 01:43

The estimated cost per tank is $350,000.
2 minute read.

A US M1 Abrams tank fires during the "Saber Strike" NATO military exercise in Adazi, Latvia, June 11, 2016.. (photo credit:REUTERS)

The US Army has approved the installation of Israel’s Trophy active-protection system on a number of its M1A2 Abrams tanks, making it the first army aside from the IDF to use the system.

The Pentagon said Thursday the decision was made following “an urgent material” request.


Designed to detect and neutralize incoming projectiles, the Trophy system has four radar antennae and fire-control radars to track incoming threats such as anti-tank guided missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. Once a projectile is detected, Trophy fires a shotgun-type blast to neutralize the threat.

Developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries’ Elta Group, it is the only fully operational and combat-proven APS in the world.

Michigan-based General Dynamics Land Systems was contracted to add the system to an Armor Brigade Combat Team’s M1A2 SEPv2 at a cost of close to $10 million with an expected completion date by the end of March 2019.

The estimated cost per tank is $350,000.

With its troops operating in theaters such as Syria and Iraq, the US has understood that ground forces and armored vehicles are sitting ducks without active protection systems due to the proliferation of antitank weaponry in the hands of both state militaries and insurgent groups. Outside the Middle East, pro-Russian rebels in the Ukraine have been reported to be using Russian-made Kornet missiles, which can strike targets more than five kilometers away using a laser beam to direct the missile and which can pierce standard armor 1,000–1,200 millimeters thick.

Maj.-Gen. David Bassett, who is in charge of the US Army’s programs in the area of ground combat systems, was quoted by the DefenseTech website in August as ultimately envisioning “a brigade’s worth of capability of Trophy on the Abrams” – one of the most heavily armored vehicles in existence.

The Trophy has been installed on Israel’s Merkava tanks since 2009, and also has been installed on the IDF’s Namer heavy infantry fighting vehicle and new armored personnel carrier, the Eitan, which is set to enter operational use for infantry battalions in the coming year.

The Trophy System received its “baptism by fire” on March 1, 2011, when it neutralized an RPG antitank rocket fired from a short range toward an IDF Merkava Mark-IV tank close to the Gaza border.

The system has since proved its efficacy in several operations, especially during Operation Protective Edge when IDF tanks operated in the Gaza Strip without suffering any losses.

Rafael declined to comment on the report.


http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Pe...all-Israeli-defense-system-on-US-tanks-506474

 

[gangsta_rap]

The US were attempting to create their own Trophy copy but apparently it failed out in trials.

 

[mike2000 is back]

The US were attempting to create their own Trophy copy but apparently it failed out in trials.

Well, it's a good move they adopted an already proven weapon system. Win-Win for both sides.

 

[DavidSling]

US Army Buys Israeli Trophy System So Its Tanks Can Blast Incoming Projectiles

The service has an "urgent" plan to install Israel's Trophy active protection system on at least some of its tanks.

BY JOSEPH TREVITHICKSEPTEMBER 29, 2017

The U.S. Army will finally install the Israeli Trophy active protection system on at least some M1A2 Abrams tanks in response to an urgent request. The service is still in the process of deciding whether or not to widely deploy the self-defense equipment, which it has been testing in response to concerns about a variety of threats, including Russian aggression in Europeand the proliferation of guided anti-tank missiles among insurgent and terrorist groups.

On Sept. 28, 2017, in its daily contract announcement, the Pentagon reported that the Army had hired General Dynamics Land Systems to add the system to an unspecified number of tanks in an “armor brigade combat team” as part of an “urgent material release.” The deal, which was a modification to a previous contract, was worth almost $10 million and covered work at the firm’s Sterling Heights, Michigan location through March 2019.

Trophy, a joint development between Israeli state-owned defense contractors Rafael and the Elta Group division of Israel Aircraft Industries, is a so-called “hard kill” active protection system for tanks and other armored vehicles. It combines a radar with launchers that shoot a burst of metal pellets, akin to a large shotgun, to destroy incoming anti-tank rockets and missiles.

Israel declared the system operational on its own Merkava main battle tanks in 2009 and first successfully intercepted a hostile projectile two years later. According to the Israel Defense Forces and Rafael, no Merkavas suffered damage during the Israeli intervention into Gaza in 2014, thanks in no small part to Trophy, which experienced no false alarms or misfires during the approximately three week long ground operation. You can see the system take out a projectile while operating in Gaza here.

The U.S. military’s latest announcement did not specify how many tanks would receive the modifications or what unit they will belong to. As of December 2016, the Army had 14 armor brigade combat teams, which have Abrams tanks and mechanized infantry in M2 Bradley fighting vehicles at their core. At that time, the service was in the process of converting another existing brigade to the armor configuration.

In April 2017, the Army also announced it would deploy 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division to Europe to take over for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Both of these are presently set up as armor brigades. Though 2/1st Infantry’s rotation will likely end before the Trophy work is completed, it is possible that the “urgent” modifications could be in preparation for a future rotation.

The troops in Europe are part of a U.S. mission to reassure allies in the face of the Kremlin’s revanchist foreign policy. Nicknamed Operation Atlantic Resolve, this effort began following the Russian seize of Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014 and subsequent support for separatists fighting the government in Kiev, which as resulted in a protracted crisis.

US ARMY
A US Army M1 Abrams tank fires a round during a training exercise in Romania in August 2016.

Though there is no immediate prospect of a direct conflict between the United States and Russia, the Trophy system is part of a number of U.S. military initiatives intended to demonstrate a credible deterrent against both the Kremlin’s improving conventional military forces and hybrid warfighting style. After more than a decade battling terrorists and other militants, the Army in particular has become increasingly concerned it has a limited capability to respond to this type of “near-peer” threat, something highlighted in a recent official manual on Russian military developments.

In March 2017, the Army announced it would install explosive reactive armor, which detonates outward to absorb the blast from an incoming warhead, on Abrams tanks in Europe. Unfortunately, this type of system has a number of significant disadvantages, which I discussed in detail at the time. The service has also sent early iterations of the up-gunned Stryker wheeled armored vehicles and new electronic warfare systems that can knock down enemy drones to help bolster its existing commitments.

On top of that, man-portable anti-tank guided missiles, including the American TOW and the Russian Kornet, have become increasingly prevalent even in more limited conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere. Houthi rebels in Yemen and ISIS terrorists in Iraq have both attacked advanced tanks with these types of missiles and caused significant damage.

“The [anti-tank guided missile is the singular greatest threat to tanks today,” a 2016 Army training handbook on foreign weapon systems declares. “Nearly all … launchers are high-level threats to vehicles and rotary-wing aircraft in the U.S. Army. They can also be used against personnel and materiel targets. The variety of launch platforms is increasing.”

As such, the Army has already been testing Trophy and other active protection systems for months. Other possible systems include Israel Military Industries’ Iron Fist system, which the service is looking at as an option for the M2 and M3 Bradley fight vehicles, and American defense contractor Artis’ Iron Curtain for the Stryker and other lighter vehicles.

Both of these similarly employ a radar to detect incoming projectiles before firing intercepting projectiles at them. The idea of active protection is by no means new, though. The Soviets fielded one of the first systems to see widespread service, called Drozd, in the late 1970s. Iron Curtain itself was the product of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency effort that began in 2005.

The Army has long been interested in the concept, as well, planning to incorporate the defensive equipment into the abortive Future Combat Systemsvehicle program. The same day it awarded General Dynamics the Trophy modification contract, the service also said it would pay DRS Sustainment Solutions, the U.S. subsidiary of Italian defense contractor Leonardo, to supply another unspecified “kinetic defeat solution” for the M1277 M-ATV mine-protected 4x4 vehicle. Rafeal is pitching a lightweight version of Trophy as a possible addition for Army and Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, a small and lighter cousin of the M-ATV.

Active protection systems aren’t perfect of course. Most notably, just like reactive armor, they only supply a limited number of total “shots” before they become dead weight and crews cannot readily reload them during a fight. In addition, the interceptors could be dangerous to nearby supporting infantry, critical to any armor operation, especially in dense urban terrain, as well as innocent bystanders. With this limitation in mind, tactics will have to be adapted for M1A2 equipped units that field the system operationally.

An ultimate solution would be the development of a rapid fire, but ammo-less system. The most obvious example would be a turreted laser that could quickly target and destroy rockets and missiles. In June 2017, Raytheon reported that it had successfully tested a relatively small turreted laser pod on an AH-64 Apache helicopter. The Army has a Stryker-mounted system in the works, but primarily for shooting down small drones. Another option might be passive electronic warfare equipment that pre-detonates rounds before they hit the vehicle, something the Russian military has reportedly fielded already.

There are possible limits to both of these concepts, though. A laser or other directed energy beam could lose strength and become unreliable in adverse weather conditions or smoky and dusty battlefields. Also the laser would need to be powerful enough to kill the incoming round in a very short period of time. Although solid-state lasers are quickly becoming more powerful, they have a ways to go before such a solution is viable. A jammer would have to be able to create a “bubble” around a vehicle without disrupting friendly communications or other electronic systems, and it would likely be less reliable against wide range of system than a kinetic or laser kill option.

With these issues in mind, the Army itself has struggled to decide how much to rely on active protection systems. With any vehicle only able to handle so much weight, designers have to offset the additional strain of new defense equipment, no matter how lightweight, elsewhere.

“The real sort of Holy Grail of technologies that I’m trying to find on this thing is material – is the armor itself,” U.S. Army General Mark Milley told reportersat the National Press Club in July 2017. “If we can discover a material – and I’ve got a lot of research and development going into it – if we can discover a material that is significantly lighter in weight that gives you the same armor protection, that would be a real significant breakthrough.”

Earlier in Sept. 2017, the Army Requirements Oversight Council, which works to develop overarching operational requirements and concepts, had decided that more testing was needed on Trophy. This was due to an unspecified loss of performance with regards to the turret and other impacts on the Abrams’ basic functioning.

US ARMY
Smoke and dust covers an M1 Abrams after it fires a shot during a drill in Germany in 2014.

Other Army officials have suggested in the past there is an institutional reluctance to eschew any amount of passive armor plating in favor of active protection. Confidence in a system is an important, if intangible factor.

“There has to be a level of trust in whatever it is that you're trying [to use] to displace that passive armor,” U.S. Army Lieutenant General John Murray, Deputy Chief of Staff for Resource Management, told industry representativesin March 2017. He said at the time he wasn’t sure troops had that level of faith in active protection.

Given the latest contract announcement, it seems that this perception has changed, at least for some members of the Army’s leadership.

Contact the author: [email protected]

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...m-so-its-tanks-can-blast-incoming-projectiles

 

[DavidSling]

General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan, has been awarded a $9,899,995 modification (P00027) to contract W56HZV-17-C-0067 to support and urgent material release and have first unit equipped on trophy installed on an Armor Brigade Combat Team’s M1A2 SEPv2. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of March 29, 2019. Fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $9,899,995 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

Armor Brigade consist of 90 Abrams according to http://www.israeldefense.co.il/he/node/31289, and the cost for each Trophy system will be around 110k USD.
The move will probably lower the costs for future sells, both in domestic and foreign arena

@F-22Raptor @C130

 

[YeBeWarned]

Well, it's a good move they adopted an already proven weapon system. Win-Win for both sides.

buying off the shelf system is easier but they already put some R&D which might have taken some good bucks, wonder if they will continue the research or close their own program down .

 

[DavidSling]

 

[DavidSling]

US to kit armored brigade with Israel's Trophy system
US army strikes a deal with RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems to arm its tanks with the Israeli-made ‘Trophy’ protection system, capable of intercepting anti-tank missiles and rockets and other explosive weapons.
Udi Etsion|Published: 06.10.17 , 16:38

The US army has begun arming its tanks with the Israeli-made ‘Trophy’ protection system, capable of intercepting anti-tank missiles and rockets and other explosive weapons.

The American Defense Department gave General Dynamics Aerospace (GDA), an American defense company, a first contract worth $10 million to conduct research, development and the necessary trials to augment the Abrams M1A2 tank with the defensive system.


Israel's Merkava 4

The US army plans to initially kit one armored brigade by 2019 with the Israeli technology which will be deployed before other brigades in crises around the world.

While it remains unclear how the work will be distributed between the GDA and the RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems—the company behind the innovation—the deal is estimated to amount to a massive $300 million.

While the US rarely purchases foreign-produced weaponry, the aberration came after tests with the sophisticated armor, after American designers failed to complete the development of similar defensive devices.

The Trophy system was made all the more tempting to the US army in its current form given its proven capabilities on the battlefield after being appended to the latest IDF Merkava 4 tank.

The decision was also influenced by the Americans' concern over the fact that Russia has already equipped their tanks with a parallel defense system, and may sell it to their allies; China and Iran.

"Only two countries have developed and equipped to date a defense system for tanks, and one of them is our ally," an American general recently said in a congressional testimony.

The Ministry of Defense and RAFAEL are already working on a new generation of the system. At the same time, the Americans are expected to acquire the equivalent system of IMI Systems, Iron Fist, for their armored personnel carriers.

RAFAEL will present in the US next week a version of the Trophy protection system for light armored vehicles, and a remote controlled firing position that saves the need to externaly load ammunition during combat, which endangers the lives of soldiers.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5025307,00.html

 

[500]

First pics of Abrams with Trophy:

WASHINGTON — The Army has decided to equip a brigade’s worth of Abrams tanks with the Trophy Active Protection System and urgently field them to the European theater, Col. Glenn Dean, the program manager for Stryker, who also manages the service’s effort to install APS on combat vehicles, told Defense News.

In addition Bradley IVF will be equipped with Iron Fist APS:

Ultimately, the Army selected Israeli company Rafael’s Trophy system -- that is deployed in the Israeli army -- for Abrams; Iron Fist from IMI, another Israeli company, for the Bradley; and Herdon, Virginia-based Artis’ Iron Curtain for Stryker.

https://www.defensenews.com/digital...s-tanks-with-trophy-active-protection-system/

 

[DavidSling]

First pics of Abrams with Trophy:

View attachment 430368

WASHINGTON — The Army has decided to equip a brigade’s worth of Abrams tanks with the Trophy Active Protection System and urgently field them to the European theater, Col. Glenn Dean, the program manager for Stryker, who also manages the service’s effort to install APS on combat vehicles, told Defense News.

In addition Bradley IVF will be equipped with Iron Fist APS:

Ultimately, the Army selected Israeli company Rafael’s Trophy system -- that is deployed in the Israeli army -- for Abrams; Iron Fist from IMI, another Israeli company, for the Bradley; and Herdon, Virginia-based Artis’ Iron Curtain for Stryker.

https://www.defensenews.com/digital...s-tanks-with-trophy-active-protection-system/

Nice!

 

[DavidSling]

US TANK BRIGADE TO BE ARMED WITH ISRAEL’S TROPHY SYSTEM

• >
  IDF General: Latest Merkava tank, APC, to ensure superiority on the battlefield
• >
  IDF puts female soldiers in tanks in new pilot program

BY ANNA AHRONHEIM

OCTOBER 10, 2017 17:27

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the international arena is the most complex and demanding he had seen in more than four decades of service.
3 minute read.

A US M1 Abrams tank fires during the "Saber Strike" NATO military exercise in Adazi, Latvia, June 11, 2016.. (photo credit:REUTERS)

A brigade of more than 80 Abrams tanks belonging to the US military are expected to be deployed to Europe in 2020 armed with Israel’s Trophy active-protection system to counter the growing threat from Russia.

According to a report by Military.com, US army officials made the comments Monday at the Association of the US Army’s annual convention and exhibition in Washington.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who gave the keynote address, said the international arena is the most complex and demanding he had seen in more than four decades of service and that the US military must be “fit for their purpose, fit for their time in these days of emerging challenges.”

For the first time since World War II, national borders in Europe have been changed by the force of arms, Mattis said, referring to the annexation and occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea by Russia in 2014.

“One country proved willing to ignore international law to exercise a veto authority over its neighbors’ rights to make decisions in the economic, diplomatic and security domain,” he said.

As part of the European Reassurance Initiative, a multi-billion dollar Pentagon plan to deter Russian aggression and reassure European allies, the US has two combat brigades permanently positioned in Europe – the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Germany and the 173rd Airborne in Italy. There is also a rotational armored brigade of 4,000 soldiers deployed in Europe with an additional 1,750 troops from an aviation brigade.

But, according to Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, leader of US European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, more forces, including increased armor and infantry, are needed to deter future military aggression by Russia.

“Russia’s posture is not a light force. It’s a heavy force,” he told a Senate appropriations subcommittee in May.

The US has understood that ground forces and armored vehicles are sitting ducks without any APS due to the proliferation of anti-tank weaponry in the hands of both state militaries and insurgent groups, including by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine who have been reported to be using Russian-made Kornet missiles, which can strike targets more than five kilometers away using a laser beam to direct the missile, which can pierce standard armor 1,000–1,200 millimeters thick.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post earlier this month, the US Army has given the green-light to install the Israeli Trophy active protection system on a number of its M1A2 Abrams tanks, contracting Michigan-based General Dynamics Land System to add the system on an Armor Brigade Combat Team’s M1A2 SEPv2 at a cost of close to $10 million with an estimated completion date expected by the end of March 2019.

The Trophy Active Protection System (APS), developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries’ Elta Group, is the only fully operational and combat-proven APS in the world. It received its “baptism by fire” on March 1, 2011, when it neutralized an RPG antitank rocket fired from short range toward an IDF Merkava Mark-IV tank close to the Gaza border. The Trophy has proven its efficacy in several operations, especially during Operation Protective Edge when IDF tanks operated in the Gaza Strip without suffering any losses.

Designed to detect and neutralize incoming projectiles, the Trophy system has four radar antennas and fire-control radars to track incoming threats such as anti-tank-guided-missiles (ATGMs) and rocket-propelled grenades. Once a projectile is detected, the Trophy system fires a shotgun-type blast to neutralize the threat. Speaking at AUSA, Army Col. Glenn Dean, the project manager of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Combat Ground Systems, was quoted by Military.com as saying the Israeli-made system “exceeded expectations.”

“I tried to kill the Abrams tank 48 times and failed,” he said.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/US-tank-brigade-to-be-armed-with-Israels-Trophy-system-507139

 

[DavidSling]

U.S. Army to Equip Its European-Based Armored Brigade with TROPHY APS
By
Tamir Eshel
-
Oct 10, 2017
1156
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The M-1A2 TROPHY integration used turret-side mounted modules, similar to those used on Israel's Merkava Mk4. The M-1A2SEPv2 is seen here fitted with the Abrams Reactive Armor Tile (ARAT) package recently added to the Abrams' survivability kit. Photo: US Army via Leonardo

After years of evaluations and experimentation with active protection systems (APS) technologies, the US Army finally moves fast to equip its M-1A2 SEPv2 main battle tanks with lifesaving APS – Israel’s TROPHY was selected, realizing it is the only system of its kind that has proved its worth in real combat. M-1A2SEPv2 is the latest operational variant of the M-1 Abrams tank. These systems are expected to enhance the operational effectiveness of the U.S. main battle tank, enabling tank formations to become more survivable and decisive against anti-tank threats.

The U.S. Army has recently received the latest modernized version (SEPv3) of the tank and has recently awarded the original manufacturer of the tank, General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), to propose new upgrades for a follow-on SEPv4 variant.


Relying on non-developmental technology, the integration of Trophy on the M-1A2 SEPv2 took only six months, and in the evaluations, its performance TROPHY exceeded the Army expectations. Following the successful completion of the first phase, the program moves to the next testing phase. Since Trophy is an operational system that has proved its worth, the Army is not waiting for the completion of this second testing phase and simultaneously enter production, to meet the Army’s tight fielding schedule.

THROPY integration on M1A2 used turret-side mounted modules, adapted from theose deployed on IDF Namer and Merkava Mk4. Photo: Leonardo
The acquisition of the TROPHY brigade set for the M-1A2 SEPv2 is limited to one brigade set and is managed under the modification and support contract of the Abrams tank as an urgent material release. The U.S. already has one armored brigade deployed in Europe on an annual rotation; the APS-equipped brigade is expected to remain in Europe on a permanent basis. Future equipping decisions will be taken under the APS ‘Program of Record’ after the system integrates the forthcoming Modular APS (MAPS) architecture, that will enable the Army to ‘plug and play’ new, emerging detection and defeat technologies. The current system employs four IAI Elta ELM-2133 Windguard radars According to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the system’s developer, and its US team-member DRS Technologies of the Leonardo Group, TROPHY is designed with the ability to accept future technologies and capabilities.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense and Defense Forces put TROPHY through a four-year safety certification process before approving its operational use aboard the Merkava Mk4 tank in 2010.

Subscribe to read the full article (625 words)

The M-1A2 TROPHY integration used turret-side mounted modules, similar to those used on Israel’s Merkava Mk4.

http://defense-update.com/20171010_aps-3.html

U.S. Army Releases the Key for Future Vehicle Protection Systems
By
Tamir Eshel
-
Oct 10, 2017
405
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The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC) has just released the MAPS Framework (MAF) – the key element in TARDEC’s roadmap to standardize the development and upgradability of Active Protection Systems (APS) and subsystem technologies utilized to protect ground vehicle platforms. The newly released document outlines the different standards that guide system providers in government and industry to develop products that are modular, upgradable, safe, and secure.

The adoption and implementation of MAF 1.0 is the first step to establish ‘MAPS compliant’ products that are affordable, common, interchangeable and able to be integrated with any APS subsystem on any ground vehicle platform across the Army. MAF was released as a Beta version in February 2016. “Over the past months, we have built on that baseline by conducting integration efforts using three different APS defeat approaches and demonstrating the first end-to-end engagement, from cue to defeat using the MAPSapproach.” Said Jeff Koshko, TARDEC’s associate director, Ground Vehicle Survivability & Protection. “The modular framework will continue to evolve, but we are confident this version will provide our collaboration partners an excellent starting point for adapting their APS technologies for MAF compliance.”


Earlier this year TARDEC evaluated initial integration for the U.S. Army’s Modular Active Protection System (MAPS) based soft-kill demonstrator developed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The system uses an Open Architecture Processor developed by Lockheed Martin with Passive Infrared Cueing Sensor (PICS) and Multifunction EO System (MEOS) countermeasure provided by Northrop Grumman. The team completed initial integration in March and are set to deliver a full system demonstrator for testing on an M1 Abrams tank this year. A soft-kill capability enables the active protection system to confuse an incoming sensor-based weapon system through spoofing, interference or obscuration, resulting in the elimination of the threat.

The Army also introduced yesterday at the AUSA convention three systems that are already in different stages of development, designed to protect main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers. These systems are designed to adapt MAPS in their advanced evolutionary phases.

MAF 1.0 is one of two primary products that will result from the MAPS program. The other MAPS product is the Modular APS Controller (MAC) that that enables the integration and control of APS sensors and countermeasures, and the entire MAPS- compliant APS onto a ground vehicle platform.

When applied to an APS subsystem, the MAC and associated MAF provide ground vehicles the capability to defend against current threats and the upgradeability to defeat evolving threats. Furthermore, as standards-based systems, they allow for more competition and diversity within the APS industry.

The MAPS program uses a concept called Knowledge Points (KPs) to release an update government, industry and academic partners on MAF’s progress on a periodic basis to keep potential future collaboration partners up to date on MAF progress. MAF 1.0 was released under KP7 which represents the largest and most important KP release so far and consolidates all of the KPs released to date. MAF 1.0 establishes a stable baseline for use by the MAPS Community of Interest (COI) and other collaboration partners and enables them to continue updating or developing APS technologies for MAF compliance.

“The release of MAF 1.0 is a result of many months of investigation by a team of qualified government and industry personnel and academic researchers focused on APS design, system modeling, functional hierarchy development, requirements engineering, functional allocation, behavior modeling, assessment of APS function safety criticality, power architecture, networking and communications standards and review activities,” said Dan Torres, MAPS chief integrator for modularity. “Essentially, MAF 1.0 is the first, large-scale milestone in the quest for a modular APS. Future releases will continue to add functionality and build on the foundation laid in MAF 1.0.”

The release of MAF 1.0 signifies a major step toward delivering a framework and controller that will enable consistent integration of APS across the ground vehicle fleet. MAPS will provide protection from advanced threats at an optimized weight, facilitate transition with commonality across the ground vehicle fleet and allow APS to be tailored to meet specific needs. These products will lay the foundation for future Vehicle Protection Systems (VPS) technologies.

http://defense-update.com/20171010_maf.html

 

[DavidSling]

 

[500]

Some findings during US army tests of Trophy at Res Arsenal:

* Trophy exceeded expectations of US army.
* Trophy successfully passed all 48 firing tests.
* Trophy was less hazardous to dismounted soldiers than explosive reactive armour (ERA).
* Trophy did not affect the performance of electrical systems or the turret, including how the 120mm main gun fired.

https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/landwarfareintl/ausa-2017-army-looks-expedite-aps-fielding

 

[DavidSling]