COLOGNE, Germany — The German and Israeli protection ministries have signed an settlement for the acquisition of the Rafael-made Trophy energetic safety system for the Bundeswehr’s Leopard 2 tanks, the 2 governments introduced Feb. 23.
The deal, inked Feb. 22, will see the protection system, which shoots projectiles at incoming anti-tank munitions, put in on an organization’s price of tanks by 2025; that’s 17 operational autos plus one reference kind for testing.
Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is the contractor to put in Trophy elements on the tanks in the midst of an improve from the A6-A3 configuration to the A7-A1 model, in accordance with a memo to the German parliament by protection officers in late January that requested funding for the undertaking.
The missive was authorised by lawmakers on the time, paving the way in which for the settlement with Israel and producer Rafael. The 23 Trophy units and 586 interceptors sought by Germany include a price ticket of $48 million. Leopard-maker KMW stands to get roughly double that for the mixing work, which is able to depart the federal government with 18 tank hulls now not wanted after the improve.
Israeli Protection Minister Benny Gantz referred to as the Trophy system a “product of Israel’s groundbreaking protection business,” with Germany’s nod representing an “expression of confidence” within the two nations’ protection cooperation.
The Bundeswehr, or German navy, determined to equip its tanks with an energetic safety system as a result of “fashionable anti-tank guided missiles pose a big risk,” protection officers wrote to lawmakers. The present effort to introduce Trophy is supposed as a “first step” towards wider use of comparable know-how, the memo said.
German protection officers thought of Trophy, which is already in use on Israeli and American tanks, probably the most superior and operationally confirmed system obtainable available on the market, they advised lawmakers.