British Challenger 3 Tanks to be Integrated with Israel-made Trophy APS

The UK Ministry of Defence selected Trophy Active Protection System (APS) manufactured by Israeli firm Rafael to integrate them on the Army's Challenger 3 main battle tanks.

The selection is a result of a study conducted by the UK MOD as part of an upgrade program led by prime contractor Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL), which will entail detailed integration and system trials of this lighter Trophy variant (Trophy MV), to fit the particular requirements of this vehicle.

Trophy APS provides protection against rocket and missile threats and simultaneously locates the origin of the hostile fire for immediate response. Trophy is the only fully-integrated APS in the world and has been installed on Israel Defense Forces’ Merkava tanks since 2010, and has also been installed on the Namer APCs. Trophy has also been supplied to four U.S. Army Abrams MBT brigades, and will soon be supplied to Germany for its Leopard MBTs.

David Farmer, Team Leader for the Challenger 3 delivery team at Defence, Equipment & Support, the procurement arm of the UK MOD, said: “I am delighted to welcome Rafael to our cohort of industry delivery partners who are working together to bring Challenger 3 to life. This is a significant programme for Defence, and the British Army and represents a huge shift in the modernisation of our land forces. The pioneering new technology that we are planning to use will allow us to deliver an immense warfighting capability.”