Army, Marines Order Additional Trophy Active Protection Systems

Leonardo DRS has announced a contract for additional active protection systems (APS) for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.

The $80 million deal covers an undisclosed number of Rafael Trophy APS for M1 Abrams tanks, said a company release on Tuesday. 

The total contract value to equip Abrams tanks with the defense system now exceeds more than US$200 million, the release said.

The U.S. military is seeking to modernize its fleet of armored fighting vehicles with APS to counter increasing threats from Russian- and Chinese-made anti-tank missiles, noted Breaking Defense.

The U.S. Army first decided to equip its M1 Abrams with the Trophy APS in October 2017, noted Defense News.

Last month, the U.S. Army agreed to purchase an initial batch of the Iron Fist APS, manufactured by Israeli Military Industries, for the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.

Separately, General Dynamics announced on Tuesday that the Army had signed a $714 million delivery order to upgrade an additional 174 M1A1 Abrams tanks to the M1A2 SEPv3 configuration.