the army will soon start testing a lockheed martin anti-missile defense system designed
to work with the services m1 tanks in bradley and striker armored vehicles under a three-year
agreement announced tuesday lockheed will provide its modular active protection system or maps
base kit which includes a framework of vehicle sensors and countermeasures designed to detect
track and destroy rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles
this is the latest step in the army's decade-long quest to protect its armored vehicle crews
without adding extra armor which increases vehicle weight and degrades speed and mobility
lockheed began working with the army to develop its maps technology in 2014. the service has been
searching for an active protection system for more than 10 years it selected the quick kill aps made
by raytheon to equip its manned ground vehicles under the future combat systems program the army
launched an accelerated effort in early 2017 to equip its m1 tanks bradley fighting vehicles and
strikers with commercially available active protection devices such as the trophy system
the army agreed to equip four brigade combat teams worth of m1 tanks with the trophy system
and has tested the israeli aps system known as iron fist to protect the bradley
equipping the lightly armored striker with aps has proven more challenging
army officials told congress in march the aps systems the army tested could
defeat an incoming missile but it was difficult to prevent the
secondary effects of the destroyed enemy rocket from penetrating the vehicle
under the new agreement lockheed martin will deliver five production ready base
kits with an option for up to 20 and support armies integration and testing on abrams tanks
the new armored multipurpose vehicle and bradley and striker vehicles
the contract also covers developing the base kit for vehicle protection capabilities
beyond active protection such as underbelly blast protection according to the release
under a recent contract award with a 30 million dollar ceiling lockheed martin
will begin integrating and formally testing its open architecture processor designed to
control the us army's future combat vehicle protection system lockheed is supporting those
activities starting later this year through 2023 david rohl program manager for advanced
ground vehicle systems at lockheed martin missiles and fire control told defense news
lockheed received an initial award of 1.5 million dollars through another transaction
authority agreement following a competitive process in december 2020 but has since
received three million dollars of additional incremental funding according to rowhall
as part of the contract lockheed will develop the maps base kit hardware and software
perform platform integration and run on vehicle live fire demonstrations over a 36 month period
the base kit consists of the maps open architecture controller application
software user interface power management distribution system and a network switch
in an army lab test one maps enabled active protection system actually responded faster
to threats than its standalone version thanks to the higher network speeds and greater processor
power the maps controller offers lockheed will work with the army for integration and testing
on the bradley infantry fighting vehicle the m1 abrams tank the armored multipurpose vehicle and
the striker combat vehicle ahead of a transition to the vehicle protection system program
the upcoming integration and testing is the last step for the base kit ahead of fielding
the future vehicle protection system for ground combat vehicles the effort will
validate the vehicle protection system base kit capability for an initial production decision