The new anti-tank missile defense system, the Trophy, was recently used in a number of Armored Corps exercises. Five facts you didn’t know of the IDF’s new shield:
1. The Trophy, also known as ASPRO-A or Meil Ruach in Hebrew (meaning Windbreaker) is an active protection system designed to shield light and heavy military armored vehicles against various types of anti-tank rockets and missiles (used by Hezbollah operatives in the Second Lebanon War, for example).
2. The system is comprised of three elements: threat detection and tracking, launching and, finally, interception. Sensors located on the vehicle’s various surfaces enable threat detection and warning subsystems to provide full coverage of the vehicle’s surroundings.
Neutralizing only takes place if an incoming projectile is detected and identified as a real threat. The launching and interception functions are then activated and neutralizing agents are fired at the incoming threat.
3. Trophy is the fruit of a ten-year collaborative effort between Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries’ Elta Group.
4. Trophy was successfully tested on December, 2010, when an anti-tank missile was fired at a Merkava Mark 4 tank equipped with the system, the tank being operated by soldiers and the Commander of the Armored Corps’ 401st Brigade himself sitting in the tank at the time.
5. The Trophy system can be put to full operational use on vehicles in motion, against short range threats, in close and urban terrain and under all weather conditions.
