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Lockheed to integrate, test MAPS on US Army vehicles

MAPS defending a tank against an incoming projectile
Lockheed Martin illustration

The US Army recently awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to begin the formal integration and testing of the modular active protection system (MAPS) on US Army vehicles.

Under the terms of the contract, the company will provide its MAPS base kit, which includes an open-architecture processor that integrates vehicle sensors and countermeasures in a common framework to detect, track and defeat rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles.

“Lockheed Martin partnered with the US Army in 2014 to develop MAPS as a safe and secure vehicle defense system that protects warfighters from a variety of anti-armor threats,” said David Rohall, program manager for Advanced Ground Vehicle Systems at Lockheed Martin.

MAPS has already been tested in multiple live-fire demonstrations, but the latest effort to integrate and test it on a variety of army combat vehicles, will be the final step before the army makes a formal decision on fielding this capability.

Under the 36-month contract, Lockheed Martin will deliver five production-ready base kits with an option for up to 20, and support integration and testing on Abrams, Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, Bradley and Stryker vehicles. The contract also covers developing base kit support for vehicle protection capabilities beyond active protection, such as underbelly blast protection.

The base kit supports the integration of MAPS-compliant sensors and countermeasures. It is designed to protect current combat vehicles and support future vehicle protection system capabilities.