As of Today there seem to be 3 fully operational tank hard kill active protection systems out there: The famous Trophy, also the Israeli IRON FIST and the Russian Afganit system.
And out of all 3 systems only ONE is also combat proven (Trophy off course). As you know from my previous posts, Off course only real time combat is the real test for any arms system because only there you get exposed to all scenarios that in a lab or in training can’t predict or replicate. And off course only after the real time exposure, the nuances that training or lab couldn’t predict are adjusted evolutionary accordingly
I admit that surprised me, cause I thought, according to reports a few years ago, that also the German system, AMAP-ADS was “fully operational” and even “better” than the trophy (the claim was that it possessed “less” of a threat to surrounding soldiers outside the tank once it is activated to destroy an incoming threat)! But surprise surprise – according to Defense Update it is simply not as “mature” as the Israeli Trophy – in other words it isn’t as good! So now the German army is arming one of its tank companies with a trophy system.
Trophy there is really no reason to introduce but here are a few words on it anyhow. Operational since 2009 and saw first combat action in 2011 on the Gaza border. In the 2014 Gaza war it took down dozens of incoming Kornet ATGM’s & RPG’s and not a single tank equipped with the system was hit. At present there is also Trophy “Light” suitable for light vehicles and as we speak, Rafael is collaborating with IMI (Israel Military Industries) and IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) in developing the next generation APS, which rumor has it, will also be suitable for Kinetic energy rounds. At present, in addition to the IDF, also the US army are equipping their Abrams with it (more on that beneath), in addition to one German Leopard company, as mentioned above (one of my next posts will be about the whole evolutionary development phase of the Trophy).
another system which is fully operational although NOT combat proven is the also Israeli “Iron Fist” by IMI. Even though they lost to Rafael in the bid for the IDF, their system is also fully operational. They way it works is the Israeli MOD gave money and funding for both companies to develop their systems and then they select one of the them (that was the way it was with Iron Dome) and in 2010 selected the Trophy over the Iron Fist. but despite loosing, IMI decided – in nothing other than can be described as a “visionary” move by them (“develop what you believe and the money will come” as they say in “Built to Last”)- to complete the development of the system, and as of today they have scored with the US military with a $200 million contract to protect their Bradleys, beating out their only competitor – the Israeli Trophy. That is quit an achievement and vision on IMI’s behalf to continue developing that system despite LOOSING to the Trophy system on the lucrative IDF contract because the general consensus was in the arms industry, until not long ago, that if the IDF didn’t buy any given Israeli arms system, why should any foreign customer buy it. It was a badge of effectiveness. By IMI also succeeding in selling its system to foreign customers and having those foreign customers entrust their soldiers safety in IMI’s system and DESPITE loosing the bid for the IDF contract, It shows the unbelievable faith foreign customers have in the Israeli arms industry and forgive me for drawing such conclusions but also to the unbelievable reputation the Israeli arms industry has.
The Russian Afganit – to their credit the Russians were the first to develop an Active protection system, in the war in Afghanistan, the Drozed, which then became the Arena, although it was very limited in their capability and posed a real danger to surrounding soldiers. but today’s system there simply isn’t enough credible information out there about system or its capabilities. Let alone being successfully used in combat – in fact there isn’t a single example of it being used successfully in combat. according to the National Interest, which itself quotes “Russian Sources”, the system can destroy incoming Depleted Uranium kinetic energy shells, in addition to ATGM’s. Impressive – but the problem is information from Russia is simply not credible… especially when there are various motives involved in it. There are also some Youtube video’s out there about the system but they also quote the same “Russian Sources”. According to this Video the Afganit can take out ATGM’s, although only offering 180 degree protection to wherever the turret is pointing at any given time because the APS’s Munition tubes are fixed and are aligned with the turrets pointing direction and offers only 180 degree protection to wherever the turret is pointing. And if it offers just 180 degree protection to wherever the turret is pointing, hence it is vulnerable to the “remaining” 180 degrees to wherever the turret is NOT pointing. According to that Video it also can’t protect against top attack missiles. I Guess we will only know the effectiveness of the system in real time combat.
Iron Curtain – similar to the German AMAP ADS, developed by Darpa, it supposibly destroys the incoming threats from the bottom up or vice versa hence minimizing the risk for collateral damage for surrounding soldiers (instead of exploding “sideways” like the Trophy). It was placed on the 4 types of US army Vehicles (but NOT tanks) however, eventually, the US army ditched the system saying it was not “mature” enough for various weathers & terrains and it least for the Bradly installed the Iron Fist instead.
And then there is the US Quickill system by Raytheon. Yes, “Was”, because for some reason it was frozen or delayed by the DOD for the time being, and in the meantime the DOD preferred to protect their boys in the tanks with the trophy system, at least until the US army can come up with its own system. Raytheon, as with most American sophisticated arms system, tried to build a perfect system and, for example, the designers of Quickill wanted instead of a 1% chance of surrounding soldiers being hit they wanted to reduce it to almost zero. Specifically when the system will destroy incoming threats it will do it from the top downward and the explosion will be towards the ground and not sideways where soldiers can get hit. That was apparently too hard and long to develop. But what was really fascinating is the real difference between Israeli arms systems and the American and others: The Israelis build systems that you can develop the fastest, cheapest and bottom line that works, especially for their own evolutionary threats (weather, terrain, threats and etc.) – and even if not 100% perfect and certainly not for other combat theaters. Closet to perfect, but not perfect. But once you develop it you can make changes afterwards – and that is the Israeli arms development doctrine in a nutshell.
Other systems in development are the Tukish Akkor which, at least according to the the official video from Aselsan (the Turkish Manufacturer), looks like the Iron Fist. same as the in development Chinese system GL5 and the Ukranian Zeslon.
Israeli FirePower LTD. 
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