The US has been looking at APS to protect armor for some time, lingering in the design and development stages since the 1950s. Other militaries have looked to add their own active-protection systems and boost their antitank capabilities to counter adversaries' versions of the systems. US military officials have said the Abrams remains at the top of its class, but they've also warned that foreign militaries are gaining on it. The Trophy system is estimated to cost $350,000 to $500,000 for each tank. The 2019 budget proposal requests $182.1 billion for the Army - $5.6 billion would go to weapons and tracked-combat-vehicle procurement. "If you look at the ages of platforms and how long it takes to rebuild a heavy brigade, you (need to modernize) about one, 1.5 a year to really make a substantive change." He added the pace of those upgrades would depend on decisions made in 20.Īlso read: Why the Army's powerful new tanks might be drones "Now you are at a point where the system is starting to age out," Daniels said. "If you look at what we've done in the last 15 years, it is a light, aviation-centric fight, so we took a fair amount of risk on the heavy force," John Daniels, the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for plans, programs, and resources, told Breaking Defense. The system has been installed on Israel's Merkava main battle tanks since 2009. Internal computers then devise firing angles and signal two rotating launchers on the sides of the vehicle to fire ball-bearing-filled canisters. ![]() The Trophy system, called Windbreaker, uses four mounted antennas, which offer 360-degree coverage, and fire-control radars to pick up incoming targets. Related: What happens to an Abrams tank if hit by a battleship shellĪctive-protection systems are designed to fend off antitank missiles and other incoming projectiles. The budget for the fiscal year will equip 261 M1 tanks, three brigades' worth, with Israeli-made Trophy active-protection systems, according to Breaking Defense. The release of the Defense Department's 2019 budget proposal detailed some of the specifics of those preparations, and the Army appears to have settled on a long-awaited upgrade for its main battle tank. The US military has made clear its renewed focus on adapting to the "reemergence of long-term, strategic competition" with powerful state actors, most notably Russia and China, that was outlined in the Pentagon's National Defense Strategy early 2018.
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