October 7, 2026: Ukraine’s success against Russian tanks and armored vehicles again revived predictions that tanks are obsolete. Tanks are still relevant, but Russia's losses stemmed from poor deployment of armored units and design differences that make Russian tanks far more vulnerable than Western tanks like the American M1, German Leopard, and Israeli Merkava. Most Russian armored vehicles were lost without adequate infantry support. The first Russian armored units going into Ukraine were told the population would be friendly or neutral. The reality was that the Ukrainians were well armed, hostile, and using tactics the Russians were unaware of and unprepared to deal with. Thousands of Russian vehicles were destroyed in the first month, most of them armored, including some of the most modern Russian tanks plus a few that may have been taken from museums.

Ukrainian tanks have effective protection against missiles and RPG armor-piercing rockets. Trophy is considered the most useful and combat-proven Armored Protection System (APS). So far, over 3,000 systems have been installed or are on order for Israeli Merkava, American M1, and Leopard 2 tanks, as well as other Israeli and American armored vehicles. For example, in mid-2020 American M1 tanks arrived in Europe equipped with Trophy APS. The Israeli manufacturer began delivering 261 M1 APS kits in late 2019. These equip all the M1 tanks in four combat brigades. A few Trophy-equipped M1s are also available for testing and training.

The United States was late in adopting APS, mainly because few American-operated M1 tanks seemed to need it and the Army procurement budget was shrinking. By 2012, APS was seen as a necessity. In 2018, the Army finally got the money to upgrade M1 tanks with Trophy. This came after the Army tested Trophy on the M1. At the same time, 62 Abrams Reactive Armor Tiles/ARAT were installed to cover the running gear and tracks, adding protection against RPGs, which are often fired at this area to cripple tank mobility. The ARAT tiles add another two tons, plus about a ton for Trophy.

Trophy has been around since 2009 and has spent much of that time exposed to ATGMs and RPGs. Between testing and combat, Trophy has been fired over 6,000 times and has successfully defeated every attack. Trophy has accumulated over a million operating hours so far, and no vehicle equipped with Trophy has had a crew member injured. Like earlier active defense systems such as the naval Phalanx, you cannot leave the system on if there is no threat. That wears out the electronics, and there is always a small risk the system could be accidentally triggered by something other than a threat. James F Dunnigan