Active Protection and Ground Defense Systems
Rafael's Trophy on US Abrams tanks is the most-cited recent Israeli capability adoption. The broader portfolio spans Iron Fist, the Merkava ecosystem, Plasan armor, and the European demand surge. The ground-defense industrial base mapped.
Israeli industry's ground-defense and active-protection portfolio anchors one of the most-cited recent Israeli capability adoptions globally — the Rafael Trophy active protection system, adopted by the US Army across Abrams and Bradley armored brigade combat teams. The broader portfolio spans the Merkava tank ecosystem, the Iron Fist active protection system (Elbit / IMI), Plasan's armor solutions, and the broader armored vehicle export market.
The Trophy active protection system
The Rafael Trophy active protection system is the structural anchor of the modern Israeli active-protection portfolio. Trophy detects incoming anti-tank threats and intercepts them before they reach the vehicle, providing a hard-kill defense layer for armored platforms. The system has been operationally deployed on Israeli Merkava tanks since 2011 and on Namer infantry fighting vehicles since 2017.
The US Army adoption of Trophy across the Abrams M1A2 SEP V2 and V3 fleet (announced 2017 onward) and subsequent integration across Bradley fighting vehicles is the most-cited recent US-Israeli ground defense procurement program. Multiple international customers — Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, and adjacent NATO members — have purchased or are in advanced acquisition for Trophy or Trophy-derivative configurations.
The Iron Fist active protection system
The Iron Fist active protection system, developed originally by IMI Systems and now integrated into Elbit Systems (which acquired IMI Systems in 2018), is the alternative active-protection system competing in the same operational category as Trophy. Iron Fist has been adopted by the Israeli Defense Forces on certain platforms and has international customers including the Netherlands (Iron Fist Light Decoupled on Dutch CV9035 vehicles).
The Trophy-versus-Iron-Fist dynamic represents a competitive structure within the Israeli industrial base — both systems compete for similar customer programs internationally, with different technical approaches and different procurement architectures.
The Merkava ecosystem
The Merkava series — Israel's domestically designed and produced main battle tank — is the central platform of the Israeli ground-defense ecosystem. The current generation (Merkava IV, with the Merkava V "Barak" entering operational service from 2023) anchors the IDF's armored capability. The Namer armored personnel carrier, derived from the Merkava chassis, provides the corresponding infantry fighting vehicle capability.
The Merkava ecosystem is largely a domestic capability — Merkavas are not generally exported because of the integration of US-origin technology and adjacent constraints. The structural commercial relevance of the Merkava ecosystem is the ecosystem of subsystems suppliers (active protection, fire control, communications, electronic countermeasures) that develops alongside the platform and that is exported as separately marketed subsystems across multiple international customer programs.
Plasan and the armor layer
Plasan, headquartered in Kibbutz Sasa in northern Israel, is the principal Israeli supplier of vehicle armor solutions. The company has supplied armor packages to US military vehicles (Oshkosh M-ATV and adjacent platforms), the UK, Germany, Australia, and multiple international customers. Plasan's commercial scale is among the largest in the second-tier Israeli defense industrial base.
The Plasan position represents a category — Israeli capability in specialized armor and survivability solutions — that is operationally important in the international armored vehicle market and that has expanded substantially in the post-2022 European demand surge.
The export pattern
Within the SIBAT 2024 data, vehicles and armored personnel carriers were 9% of total contract value — a material category but smaller than missiles-and-air-defense (48%) and the aggregated "Other" remainder (19%). The vehicle category covers both completed armored platforms and the subsystems suppliers (active protection, armor, fire control, communications) that operate at multiple capability tiers.
The European demand surge has expanded the category in 2024-2026 — European national procurement programs have prioritized rapid acquisition of survivability-upgraded armored platforms, with Israeli active-protection and armor solutions sitting at the structural top of the supplier landscape.
The autonomy intersection
Active protection and ground defense intersects with the autonomous-systems trajectory through autonomous ground vehicle platforms, AI-enabled threat detection on armored platforms, and adjacent capability categories. General Robotics, Roboteam, and Elbit's autonomous ground systems portfolio (Robattle, SandCat) anchor the autonomous extension of the broader ground defense industrial base.
Read Next in The Olam
- The Israeli Defense Export Market — Geographic and category context
- The Israel-US Defense Corridor — Trophy as a structural example
Sources
Rafael, Elbit Systems, Plasan corporate disclosures; SIBAT 2024 Defense Exports Report; SIPRI Arms Transfers Database; Defense News armored systems reporting; Breaking Defense; Israel Hayom; published research on Israeli ground defense industrial base. Data current as of Q2 2026.