Germany orders Israel's Trophy active protection system for its Leopard 2 tanks

COLOGNE, Germany – The German and Israeli defense ministries have signed an agreement to purchase the Rafael-made Trophy active protection system for the Bundeswehr's Leopard 2 tanks, the two governments announced Feb. 23.

In the February 22 deal, the defense system, which fires projectiles at incoming anti-tank ammunition, will be installed on a company's tanks, or 17 operational vehicles plus one reference type for testing, by 2025. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is the contractor to build Trophy components. install the tanks in the course of an upgrade from the A6-A3 configuration to the A7-A1 version, according to a memo to the German parliament from defense officials in late January asking for funding for the project.

The message was approved by lawmakers at the time, paving the way for the agreement with Israel and manufacturer Rafael announced today. The 23 trophy sets and 586 interceptors that the Germans are looking for come with a price tag of $ 48 million. Leopard maker KMW is on the verge of getting about double that for the integration work, leaving the government here with 18 tank hulls that will no longer be needed after the upgrade.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz called the Trophy system a "product of Israel's pioneering defense industry," with the German kink representing an "expression of confidence" in the two countries' defense cooperation.

The German Bundeswehr decided to equip its tanks with an active defense system because "modern anti-tank guided missiles pose a significant threat," defense officials wrote to lawmakers. The current effort to introduce Trophy is meant to be a "first step" toward wider use of similar technology, the memo said.

German defense officials considered Trophy, already used on Israeli and US tanks, as the most advanced and operationally proven system available on the market today, they told lawmakers.