The German and Israeli defense ministries have signed an agreement for the purchase of the Rafael-made Trophy active protection system destined to protect 23 Leopard 2 tanks.
The deal, inked Feb. 22, will see the defense system, which shoots projectiles at incoming anti-tank munitions, installed on a company’s worth of tanks by 2025; that’s 17 operational vehicles plus one reference type for testing.
Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is the contractor to install Trophy components on the tanks in the course of an upgrade from the A6-A3 configuration to the A7-A1 version, according to a memo to the German parliament by defense officials in late January that requested funding for the project.
The missive was approved by lawmakers at the time, paving the way for the agreement with Israel and manufacturer Rafael. The 23 Trophy sets and 586 interceptors sought by Germany come with a price tag of $48 million. Leopard-maker KMW stands to get roughly double that for the integration work, which will leave the government with 18 tank hulls no longer needed after the upgrade.