The US army wants to install hundreds of Trophy Active Protection Systems on its Abrams main battle tanks, which would bolster NATO's defense posture in Eastern Europe vis-à-vis Russia
16/02/2018
|Photo: Leonardo DRS United States via Army Recognition
The Pentagon’s 2019 budget will include the upgrading of 261 M1A2 Abrams SEP V2 main battle tanks (MBTs), which will be fitted with Rafael's Trophy Active Protection Systems (APS) to neutralize anti-tank missiles, Army Recognition reports. According to Breaking Defense, the US Army has requested the upgrade of 135 Abrams MBTs in 2019, in addition to the 56 in the 2018 budget.
The US DoD announced that "Among the new equipment coming into the military are 77 new F-35 Lightning II’s to the Air Force and Navy, 60 new AH-64 Apache helicopters, 15 new KC-46 Pegasus tanker aircraft, 10 new P-8 Poseidon aircraft, 10 new ships added to the fleet and a myriad of space and cyber capabilities. The military will buy 5,113 new joint light tactical vehicles, refurbish and modernize 135 M-1 Abrams tanks, 30 amphibious combat vehicles, and 197 armored multi-purpose vehicles."