Sebastien Roblin
On September 28, 2017 the U.S. Army announced that it would equip the M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams tanks of one of its armored brigades with Israeli-built Trophy Active Protection Systems (APS). Or to put it in plain speech: some of America’s 70-ton main battle tanks will now have radar-guided robotic shotguns that can shoot down incoming missiles.
The deployment of Trophy-equipped Abrams tanks was done as an “urgent operational order” to upgrade a specific unit. This unit will be deploying by 2020 to one of the armored brigades rotating for service in Europe, meant to reassure NATO allies wary of potential Russian armored incursions in the Baltics.The Trophy kits straps on a number of phased-array radar panels to a tank, providing 360 degree coverage. When the radars detect an incoming projectile, one of two Trophy launchers automatically swivels around and fires a shotgun spray of Explosively-Formed Penetrator pellets towards the rocket or missile as soon as its enters range. The blast is likely to detonate shaped-charge warheads before they impact the armor, or deflect them off course. This ‘hard kill’ defensive system can respond in a fraction of a second, and can even angle upwards to intercept attacks coming from above. While early models of Trophy were depleted after firing, later variants come with auto-loaders that could offer extended protection.
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/americas-killer-m1-abrams-tank-now-has-its-own-shields-22720
