Home Europe Elbit to deliver Iron Fist active protection systems for Dutch CV90s

Elbit to deliver Iron Fist active protection systems for Dutch CV90s

CV9035NL mid-life upgrade
Dutch defense ministry illustration of a modernized CV90

BAE Systems Hägglunds, the company in charge of delivering the mid-life upgrade for the Dutch Army fleet of CV90 armored vehicles, has contracted Israel’s Elbit Systems to deliver its Iron Fist active protection systems (APS) for the vehicles.

In addition to the Iron Fist APS, the $82 million order also includes electro-optical commander sights.

As part of the mid-life upgrade, the Dutch Army is equipping the CV90 fleet fleet with increased protection against current and future threats, including anti-tank missiles. The vehicles are also receiving a new turret, whose position will be changed to provide better vehicle balance and enable new ways to introduce a variety of weaponry for increased lethality.

The Iron Fist APS will allow the vehicles to defeat incoming projectiles through the use of optical sensors, tracking radars, launchers and countermeasure munitions. The scalable system includes a light configuration for armored fighting vehicles (AFV), infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) and logistic vehicles, and a heavier configuration for main battle tanks (MBT).

The family of systems provides interception of anti-tank threats by using a blast interceptor to defeat the threat without initiating its warhead. Iron Fist automatically detects and identifies hostile anti-tank threats including short range RPGs, recoilless rifled ammunition, and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), while the heavier configuration also handles tank rounds such as High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT and kinetic energy tank rounds.

The Commander Open Architecture Panoramic Sight that will also be delivered as part of the contract is a modular dual-axis stabilized sight that facilitates fire control computation and long-range target acquisition in day and night, in both stationary and mobile situations.

Prior to the Dutch contract, Elbit delivered the Iron Fist for the Israeli Army’s Eitan armored fighting vehicles (AFV) and US Army’s M2 Bradley IFVs.

Another Israeli company, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is attracting orders for active protection systems for main battle tanks. The company has delivered the Trophy APS to Israel and the US, and has recently secured a contract for the delivery of the Trophy for the German Leopard 2 tanks.

The video below shows Elbit’s active protection systems in action.