Trophy active-protection system: The best defense is shooting back

The Trophy anti-missile system now going on U.S. tanks won’t accidentally shred friendly troops when it goes off; it will calculate where the enemy fired at you from so you can shred them. Breaking Defense reports. To intercept a threat, the Trophy tank-defense system needs detailed data on the incoming munition’s trajectory, which means it can figure out the point of origin. Since 1916, the biggest threat to tanks has been, not other tanks, but ambush by hidden anti-tank weapons, from repurposed field guns in World War I to specialized panzerjäger vehicles in World War II to shoulder-fired rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles today. Tank designers have improved armor materials to diffuse the impact of explosions and installed “reactive armor” that blows itself up to prematurely detonate incoming warheads. But without some sort of breakthrough, more advanced threats require heavier armor, driving modern Western main battle tanks like the American M1 Abrams and Israeli Merkava north of 70 tons.