A US Congressional appointed committee of experts has breathed new life into Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd.'s "Trophy Active Protection System" for armored fighting vehicles. The move comes more than a year after the US Army rejected the system in favor of the "Quick Kill" system being developed by Raytheon Inc. (NYSE: RTN), even though it is still far from operational deployment.
The Trophy provides 360-degree protection for armored vehicles from anti-tank rockets and missiles by detecting, tracking, classifying, and neutralizing the threat at a distance using a countermeasure. “Globes” reported last year that the US Army rejected the Trophy despite successful tests at the US Naval Surface Warfare Center in Virginia in March 2006.
An Israeli defense industry source told “Globes” at the time, “It was a great success, but the Army wasn’t convinced. The Army is locked on to another system being developed by Raytheon, which offers comprehensive protection solutions for APCs. Its only disadvantage is that it won’t be ready for production and installation before 2010 or 2011.”
A US government official involved in the test told “NBC” that the Trophy “worked every time. The only deviation was in one test, when the Israeli munitions hit the tail of an RPG instead of the warhead. As far as we’re concerned, the Israeli system passed all the tests with flying colors.”
Following the test, the Office of Force Transformation (OFT) at the Pentagon department asked to install the Trophy on several Stryker APCs for operational trials in early 2007, but the US Army objected. After a series of investigative reports by “NBC”, which raised questions about the Army’s motives, Congress passed a law instructing the secretary of defense to appoint an independent committee to test all active protection systems for armored vehicles made by both US and non-US companies available to the Army. The committee’s mandate was to find the most promising solutions to rocket and missile threats against APCs and tanks in both the short term and long term.
Last night, “NBC News” disclosed details about the committee’s report. “Over the course of four months, the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) analyzed classified and unclassified data on 15 different active protection systems, including Trophy and Quick Kill. The team also met with the US. Army as well as the Navy, Marine Corps, OFT, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), elements of the Intelligence Community, and the government of Israel.”
“NBC News” says that the committee found that that the Trophy was "the most mature" active protection system, one "with significant demonstrated capabilities against several types of threats."
“NBC News” added, “Congressional and Pentagon sources tell NBC News that the new report raises serious questions about the Army’s decision to go with Raytheon, the Army’s decision to block Trophy as a potential stopgap solution, and the truthfulness of statements Army officials have made to Congress.”
“NBC News” said, “IDA’s experts concluded that while development of Quick Kill ought to continue, an ‘independent’ technology readiness assessment should be done. IDA also suggested the Army ‘develop a fall-back plan with clear decision criteria in case Quick Kill fails to achieve desired technology or performance levels in time.’
“As for Trophy, IDA recommended that US. evaluations of Trophy and integration onto a Stryker vehicle be continued and that officials ‘monitor all continuing Trophy developments to maintain an option for possible future adoption on U.S. vehicles.’ In the meantime, IDA suggested that Trophy could be used by the Army and Marine Corps to develop technical, operational, and live-fire standards and procedures and rules of engagement.”
The US Army told “NBC News” that it was “an open and transparent institution that continually learns and adapts from new perspectives; we of course welcome fresh and independent analyses.” The Army added that it still believed its active protection system (Raytheon’s Quick Kill) “will best protect soldiers against current and rapidly emerging threats.”
Sources in Washington believe that the US Army will not be able to ignore the IDA report.
An Israeli defense source told “Globes” yesterday that Rafael was ready to assist the US in meeting its procurement needs if asked to do so.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on May 7, 2007
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