The Romanian Ministry of National Defence is currently preparing to launch the procurement of a new fleet of tracked infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs). As Defence Industry Europe learned from Romanian military officials during the BSDA exhibition, Bucharest intends to ultimately purchase more than 250 IFVs for the Romanian land forces. Although the tender for the new Romanian infantry fighting vehicle has not yet been initiated, the program has already attracted serious interest from the European and South Korean defence industries.
General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) was one of the state-of-the-art land system providers that participated in the BSDA exhibition. During the show, the company presented the ASCOD infantry fighting vehicle equipped with the Trophy APS for the first time. This system has been integrated with the UT30 Mk2 unmanned turret, provided by another Israeli defence company, Elbit Systems.
The turret of the ASCOD vehicle displayed at BSDA, in addition to the Trophy APS, is equipped with a launcher for Spike anti-tank guided missiles, which are manufactured by Rafael. The integration of the Trophy APS and Spike missiles with the ASCOD vehicle’s turret makes it a much better-protected and more lethal vehicle, well-equipped to face the challenges and threats of the modern battlefield.
Read more: Trophy APS: combat-proven system for NATO’s eastern flank forces.
Trophy APS is a combat-proven protection system that has achieved over 90 percent effectiveness during operations conducted by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). To date, the system has intercepted hundreds of rockets and other threats aimed at tanks and armored vehicles operated by the IDF, saving numerous soldiers’ lives. It provides vehicle protection against threats such as anti-tank guided missiles, anti-tank grenade projectiles (including those equipped with tandem charges), loitering munitions, and first-person view drones.
The BSDA exhibition provided a platform for GDELS to showcase this cutting-edge technology to military officials and defence industry representatives. As Romania prepares to modernize its fleet of IFVs, the ASCOD vehicle equipped with Trophy APS emerges as a strong contender, promising enhanced protection and operational effectiveness for the Romanian land force
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