The Trophy’s active defense system creates an “iron curtain” for the Abrams tank, making it extremely difficult to defeat.
On the battlefields of the Middle East, images of the most modern American Abrams tanks on fire after being attacked by anti-tank missiles or homemade mines have become very common.
The situation became even more tragic for the Iraqi Army when the number of Abrams tanks that the country received from the US was destroyed in large numbers during the fight with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
Faced with the above situation, it is extremely urgent to upgrade the defenses of these expensive chariots.
Some options are proposed, which are to install additional modular armor around critical positions, increase alert weapons to detect threats or add advanced aiming equipment to launch attacks in advance work.
However, receiving the most agreement was the proposal to equip the M1 Abrams tank with an advanced active defense system (APS).
Because the US currently has no products to meet the needs, they have chosen the APS Trophy system manufactured by Israel and are installing it on all tanks of the country’s army.
According to the introduction of the manufacturer Rafael, the APS Trophy system (ASPRO-A) is an effective means of helping tanks and armor deal effectively with the dangers of missiles and anti-tank rockets.
An important part of Trophy is the EL/M-2133 radar working on the F/G band, responsible for detecting, controlling, and classifying threats. The radar has 4 antennas facing in all directions, providing a 360-degree field of view, it is also supported by extremely sensitive sensors.
When an anti-tank rocket or missile is fired at the vehicle, the computer will rely on the signal received through the radar as well as the sensors to set, the flight trajectory, and the angle at which the bullet will approach the tank.
The computer then calculates the time to launch an interceptor containing small metal pellets toward the anti-tank missile in order to disable it at a safe distance.
In the event that the anti-tank ammunition is not completely destroyed, the energy from the explosion will also be significantly reduced, leaving it no longer enough energy to penetrate the armor.
In most tests, the Trophy system successfully completed the task. The test even took place in a narrow enough range to destroy the missile without harming the accompanying infantry.
More specifically, this APS complex is capable of operating in all weather conditions, effectively dealing with many threats from missiles or anti-tank rockets at the same time coming from many directions.
In addition to the protection function, Trophy also has the effect of detecting the enemy’s shelter immediately after the missile is launched. From there, the tank can quickly counterattack, eliminating the danger to himself and his teammates.
Obviously, when installing the Trophy system, old-fashioned anti-tank ammunition such as RPG-7, RPG-29 or AT-14 Kornet have no chance to overcome this effective shield.
This is clearly bad news for the armed forces who are at risk of facing the American-made steel monster on the battlefield.
