Military

The Army Is Adding Israeli Missile 'Shields' To the Mighty M1 Abrams Tank

The United States Army awarded Leonardo DRS a $193 million contract to equip the service’s M1A2 SEP v.2 main battle tanks with an Israeli-developed active protection system (APS) called the Trophy earlier this month.

The Army is adding the APS to the venerable Abrams in a bid to increase the aging tanks’ survivability against increasingly capable incoming anti-tank missiles and rocket propelled grenades.

“DRS Sustainment Systems Inc., was awarded a $192,517,762 fixed-price-incentive contract for procurement of Abrams Active Protection systems , sets of countermeasures, calibration/maintenance kits for the Abrams M1A2 System Enhancement program version 2,” the Pentagon said in a June 15 announcement.

“One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2020. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Army); and research, development, test and evaluation funds in the combined amount of $85,843,574 were obligated at the time of the award.”