Image source: topwar.ru
At the end of 2021, the US army has almost completed all the necessary tests for the integration of the active protection complex for Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, which are used by ground units of the US Armed Forces. But so far, the Pentagon has not bothered to find budget funds to finance this system.
Back in the fall of 2021, Brigadier General Glenn Dean, who holds the position of executive director of the Army Ground combat Systems program, stated in an interview with Defense News that the Iron Fist program is nearing completion of most of the necessary tests. The Army planned to complete testing and integration by the end of fiscal year 2022. But for some reason the funding was not indicated in the program.
According to General Dean, now the military is just waiting for resources from the army or Congress to start purchasing. In 2022, the Bradley Iron Fist Light Decoupled program received additional funding of $16 million to continue the second round of testing and complete documentation for the purchase of protection systems for one army brigade. But currently no funds have been allocated.
Recall that the Iron Fist protection system was developed by IMI Systems. The Israeli firm Elbit Systems, which bought IMI, in partnership with the American company General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, integrated an active protection system for Bradley.
This system protects Bradley from grenades, anti-tank guided missiles and other threats. In November 2018, the Army Requirements Oversight Board decided to deploy one brigade with new protection systems at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. But theory is one thing, and practice is another. Technical problems were identified during the tests. Because of them, the program was delayed for a year.
As Tom Neeves, a senior specialist at General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, later said, the problems were related to the power of the system. The company had to dive back into working on solutions that would integrate the system with the combat vehicle. The search for solutions has taken the last 18 months. During the tests, 400 threats to the combat vehicle were tested, including anti-tank guided missiles, recoilless shells, grenades, and so on.
The search for active protection systems of the US Armed Forces began, meanwhile, back in 2016. Trophy systems developed by Rafael were installed on M1 Abrams tanks. The army also took care of similar systems for Stryker combat vehicles and Bradley vehicles.
In the current situation, Army Minister Christine Wormut noted that the US Armed Forces are closely monitoring the Russian military operation in Ukraine and "of course, they are very concerned about threats to their tanks." At the same time, the active protection complexes used by the American ground forces were described as "good, although in need of further improvement."
