The Israeli arms company Rafael – already producing Spike missiles in Poland – is ready to cooperate more closely with Polish companies and the military. The offer includes the Trophy system, which is used to actively protect armored vehicles against missiles or drones.
The Rafael Group is one of the largest Israeli arms manufacturers; it has been present in Poland for many years. The MESKO plants in Świętokrzyskie produce Spike LR anti-tank missiles designed by Rafael, which – used manually, but also installed on Rosomak transporters, among others – have now become one of the basic types of anti-tank weapons in the Polish Army. They are, among others, part of the armament of the ZSSW-30 unmanned turret, which is installed on the new Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles.
As the company's representatives assure, Rafael is ready to integrate Spike missiles with other platforms – this concerns the currently developed program of Polish tank destroyers – i.e. light vehicles armed with anti-tank weapons – and also, as Igal Helemski, Rafael's regional director, said in an interview with PAP, for example helicopters, including the American Ah-64E Apache combat helicopters ordered for the Polish army.
Helemski also declared readiness to increase the industrial involvement of the concern in Poland. This, he said, concerns, for example, launchers and other equipment accompanying missiles, as well as the growing involvement of Polish companies as cooperators and subcontractors.
Rafael also declares its readiness to sell to Poland – and partially produce in the country – the Trophy system – an active protection system for armoured vehicles.
Systems of this type are designed to protect armored vehicles – tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, transporters or howitzers from various types of threats, such as incoming missiles or enemy drones. The general principle of the system is to detect an incoming threat – a drone or missile – using a system of sensors and firing small counter-projectiles, which are designed to destroy the threat. As the manufacturer assures, the system can detect and track several threats at once.
The need to protect armoured vehicles with systems of this type is – as experts point out – one of the conclusions drawn from the war in Ukraine, where many tanks and other vehicles were destroyed, for example, by kamikaze drones.
The Polish Armaments Agency has declared its intention to acquire this type of system in recent weeks; as reported by Defence24, the systems under consideration include Trophy, as well as the competing Iron Fist system, produced by another Israeli concern, Elbit Systems. Iron Fist is currently installed on some CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, used by Sweden, the Netherlands and Slovakia.
The Trophy system is installed and used in combat, among others, on Israeli Merkava tanks; a lighter version has also been created, adapted for installation on lighter vehicles, such as infantry carriers.
As Helemski emphasized, Trophy is currently the most developed and tested system of this type in the world, used, among others, in the armed forces of Israel, the USA – on M1 Abrams tanks – as well as Great Britain and Germany.
In Poland, the Trophy system would be installed – at least initially – on K2 tanks, which Poland is currently ordering from South Korea, and in the future, is to produce a Polonized version in domestic plants. In subsequent stages, it could be adapted – as Rafael assures – also to other vehicles used in the Polish Army. (PAP)
mml/ sdd/
