Trophy tank defense system. Photo: Rafael.

US armored forces may be sizing up an Israeli-developed defensive system that, essentially, can spot and hit nearly any known rocket or rocket-propelled grenade fired at a vehicle, according to the DoDBUZZ website.

US-based defense contractor, DRS Technologies, and Israel-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems have approached the US Army with the Trophy Active Protection System, according to the report.

“Using a 360-degree radar, processor and on-board computer, Trophy is designed to locate, track and destroy approaching fire coming from a range of weapons such as Anti-Tank-Guided-Missiles, or ATGMs, and Rocket Propelled Grenades, or RPGs,” Mike O’Leary, DRS’ director of business development told the site last week.

Trophy, known in Israel as “Windbreaker,” was developed in the wake of painful losses in Israel’s 2006 war against Hezb0llah in Lebanon to Sagger anti-tank-guided-missiles.

“Trophy will detect an inbound threat and classify that threat,” O’Leary said. “It will compute an intercept point in space away from the platform and, if the threat poses a danger to the platform, it will launch a countermeasure to defeat the threat away from the vehicle.”

Simply put, the system fires a cluster of small, shaped charges to hit the incoming weapon mid-flight, somewhat like hitting a bullet with a carefully-aimed and focused shotgun shell.

“Radar is constantly scanning the entire perimeter of the platform out to a known range. When a threat penetrates that range, the system then detects and classifies that threat and tells the on-board computer which determines the optimal kill point in space,” O’Leary said.

The system saw much action in Gaza, in protecting troops in Merkava battle tanks from similar Hamas munitions, O’Leary noted.

“Trophy was recently deployed in combat in Gaza on Israeli Defense Forces’ Merkava tanks. A brigade’s worth of tanks used Trophy to destroy approaching enemy fire such as RPGs in a high-clutter urban environment,” according to O’Leary.

Additionally, the system can “also calculate the shooter’s location,” and enable a response to the attackers themselves.

“At very least you will get an early warning to enable you to take some kind of action,” O’Leary pointed out. “I am no longer on the defensive with Trophy. Israeli commanders will tell you ‘I am taking the fight to the enemy.'”

Watch a video of the Trophy system in action:
[iframe width=”480″ height=”360″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/zyiRQsEroSc” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>]

Watch a Hamas video of the Trophy system stopping an RPG in mid-flight:
[iframe width=”640″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=4615bdcf70b6″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>]