Mechanical Engineering

Israel’s Trophy countermeasure shields troops in Gaza from anti-tank missiles, but how?

Hamas propaganda videos depict its fighters’ launching missiles at Israeli troops

By: Ben Nguyen, Journalist

November 27, 2023

Hamas propaganda videos depict its fighters’ launching missiles at Israeli troops. But what you don’t know is that the videos show another thing: the lifesaving Trophy system.

With the rise of portable anti-tank systems, such as ATGMs and RPGs, which are used by Hamas militants, it was crucial for Israel to develop a system to counter this threat. Armored vehicles rely on ERA (explosive reactive armor) rather than thick armor to survive on the battlefield. However, Israel introduced the Trophy APS (Active Protection System) to add another layer of protection to vehicles.

How does it work?

The system was designed in the 2000s by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, an Israeli defense industry company. The design uses an Elta EL/M-2133 F/G band fire-control radar, providing a 360-degree sensing field around the protected vehicle. When the system detects an incoming treat, it will calculate the trajectory of the target, the time of impact, and the angle of impact. If the treat poses a danger to the vehicle, the system will deploy a countermeasure to eliminate the threat.

The system can be seen in Israeli vehicles throughout Gaza, and its performance has attracted the interest of allied countries. The U.S. army has wanted to use another Israeli APS, the “Iron Fist”, on its M242 Bradly but has faced issues regarding the installation and cost.

Last month, Major General Glenn Dean, the U.S. Army’s general in charge of ground defense systems, made remarks to defense news, with Major General Glenn Dean saying that the Trophy APS system “can be a bit of a challenge to operate and really deploy and sustain it because installation on tanks is a little bit of a burden.”

Israel’s development of the Trophy APS was a strategic response to the evolving threat of portable anti-tank systems used by militants. But it has faced problems, including installation costs and maintenance. It remains to be seen how it will perform throughout the Hamas-Israel conflict.

An artistic rendition of Trophy intercepting an incoming threat (Rafael)