€140 Million for Third-Generation APS

The 209 LYNX IFVs Hungary has ordered from Rheinmetall are to feature the company’s new StrikeShield active protection system (APS), according to an 18 May statement.

Valued at €140 million, the order will be fulfilled by Rheinmetall Protection Systems, which will supply StrikeShield, its third and latest generation APS based on Rheinmetall’s acclaimed Active Defence System technology. It is a distributed system, whose sensors and countermeasures are integrated into the contours of the entire vehicle. Among other benefits, StrikeShield has the lowest emissions in the electromagnetic spectrum of any currently available system, as well as the fastest reaction time in ambush and multi-hit situations. It protects the vehicle from shaped-charge warhead threats, such as rockets or missiles, by neutralising incoming projectiles before impact.

The system will be mechanically integrated into hybrid armour tiles on the LYNX. Instead of conventional passive add-on armour modules, the platform will feature spaced passive armour tiles that incorporate APS components between an outer ply and inner tiles mounted on the hull.

“We see huge benefits from hybrid designs,” explained Dr Manfred Salk, CEO of Rheinmetall Protection Systems. “The effects that passive armour protects you from are standardised and well understood. Hybrid designs are different. They allow us to do a much better job of dealing with new effects and threats, such as residual energy from a disabled rocket hitting the vehicle and deflagrating. The combination of our passive and active technologies into hybrid systems therefore offers our customers unique benefits with regard to the protection capability, but also weight- and cost-efficiency.”