Hungary Orders Rheinmetall Active Protection System for Lynx IFVs

The 209 new Lynx infantry fighting vehicles recently ordered by Hungary will be equipped with Rheinmetall’s StrikeShield hard-kill active protection system (APS) under a new €140 million contract signed.

StrikeShield is the third and latest generation of Rheinmetall's Active Defence System (ADS) technology, a specific variant of hard-kill APS. It is a distributed system whose sensors and countermeasures are integrated into the contours of the entire vehicle. StrikeShield has the lowest emissions in the electro¬magnetic spectrum on the market, as well as the fastest reaction time in ambush and multi-hit situations. It protects the vehicle from shaped charge warhead threats such as rockets or missiles by neutralizing incoming projectiles before they hit the platform itself.

The StrikeShield APS will be mechanically integrated into hybrid armour tiles on the Lynx. Instead of conventional passive add-on armour modules, the platform will feature spaced passive armour tiles that incorporate the components of the APS between an outer ply and inner tiles mounted on the vehicle’s hull.

“The effects that passive armour protects you from are standardized and well understood. Hybrid designs are different. They allow us to do a much better job of dealing with new effects and threats, such as residual energy from a disabled rocket hitting the vehicle and deflagrating. The combination of our passive and active technologies into hybrid systems therefore offer our customers unique benefits with regard to the protection capability, but also weight- and cost-efficiency,” said Dr Manfred Salk, CEO of
Rheinmetall Protection Systems GmbH.