Active Protection Systems for the Army and Beyond

At the 2018 AUSA meeting (Association of the U.S. Army) the army discussed its continuing evaluation of APS (Active Protection Systems) for the Stryker combat vehicle. This is part of an overall effort to develop and deploy APS on almost all ground combat vehicles. From DefenseNews.com :

“More than a year ago, the Army determined it needed to field an interim APS solution for the Abrams tank as well as the Stryker and Bradley. The service decided to rapidly assess off-the-shelf APS systems to fulfill an urgent operational need after failing — over a 20-year period — to field an APS capability.”

As a result, the Army distributed an RFP earlier in the year for APS system proposals. While four companies responded, only two were considered ready for prime time and were invited to a live-fire rodeo in November to see if either was ready to be an interim solution for combat vehicles while they search for a permanent APS solution.

Invited to the rodeo were Israeli company Rafael’s Trophy VPS, a lighter version of the Trophy system that’s serving as the interim protection solution for the Abrams tank. Also invited was Germany-based Rheinmetall’s Active Defense System. Each will have a chance to show the Army capabilities that could go on a Stryker, or potentially another system.

CPI’s Unique APS, the ARC system

Notably missing from the Defense department’s November shootout, was the CPI RPG Shield system know as the “ARC” system. ARC stands for Active Rotating Countermeasure and represents a threat protection paradigm with significant advantages over both the systems recently invited to the Army’s shootout.

1. Low Cost – Even the German government declined to go with Rheimetall’s solution due to its high cost. The CPI system integrates into existing LIDARparadigm’s and has a rotating turret of much greater mechanical simplicity.
2. Highly Flexible Munition Array – The CPI system is the only system to allow for deployment of multiple specialized munitions in one firing assembly. Munitions can be tailored to the threat through software without need to deploy a different system in a different operational theater.
3. Operations on hoovering Aircraft – Current systems are highly specialized to operating best on only certain vehicles. The Trophy system for the Abrams Tank, the Rheinmetall’s system is best suited to Stryker. But the CPI system has characteristics that make it largely vehicle agnostic. Two versions of the rotating turret, one for ground vehicles and one for aircraft are likely all that would be needed. The differences in operation are encapsulated in the selection of munitions.

The Army’s need for a short term solution to APS is certainly understood. But it’s long term needs may be best served by a system like the CPI ARC system as no system currently under consideration has the operational potential of this threat detection and defeat paradigm or as low a projected cost.
CPI is actively looking for a partner to license and develop this technology. For more information visit our Arc System pages or contact us directly at 973-887-9400

Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/active-protection-systems-for-the-army-and-beyond/