KEULEN, Germany – The German and Israeli Defense Ministries have signed an agreement for the purchase of the Rafael-made Trophy active protection system for the Bundeswehr’s Leopard 2 tanks, the two governments announced on 23 February.
In the Feb. 22 agreement, the defense system, which by 2025 fires projectiles at incoming anti-tank weapons, will be installed on a company’s tanks, or 17 operational vehicles plus one reference type for testing. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is the contractor. to install Trophy components on the tanks during an upgrade from the A6-A3 configuration to the A7-A1 version, according to a memorandum to the German parliament by the defense officials at the end of January, which provided funding for the project request.
The crime was approved by lawmakers at the time, paving the way for the agreement with Israel and manufacturer Raphael, which was announced today. The 23 trophy sets and 586 interceptors sought by the Germans have a prize of $ 48 million. Leopard manufacturer KMW will get about twice as much for the integration, which will leave the government here with 18 tank skirts that are no longer needed after the upgrade.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz calls the Trophy system a ‘product of Israel’s pioneering defense industry’, with Germany nodding an ‘expression of confidence’ in the two countries’ defense cooperation.
The German Bundeswehr has decided to equip its tanks with an active protection system because ‘modern missile-guided missiles are a significant threat’, defense officials wrote to lawmakers. The current attempt to introduce Trophy is intended as a ‘first step’ towards a wider use of similar technology, the memo reads.
German defense officials consider Trophy, already used in Israeli and American tanks, to be the most advanced and operationally tested system available today, they told lawmakers.