Times of Israel:
For the first time, an Israeli armored personnel carrier has been outfitted with the advanced Windbreaker missile defense system, the Defense Ministry announced Thursday.
The active defense system has previously been installed on IDF tanks and saw combat during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, but Me’il Ruah in Hebrew, or Windbreaker, has now been installed on the Namer, or Leopard, armored personnel carrier.
“Over the past few weeks we have completed the integration and adaptation of the Windbreaker system for installation on Namers,” said Brig. Gen. Baruch Matzliah, head of the Defense Ministry’s Merkava Tank Department.
The Windbreaker, which is inexplicably known as the Trophy system outside of Israel, is made up of a radar detection system that spots incoming missiles and predicts their trajectories, and launchers that fire buckshot-like metal pellets, which cause the incoming missile or rocket to detonate away from the tank.
The IDF and Defense Ministry were harshly criticized during Operation Protective Edge for the use of outdated, improperly reinforced armored personnel carriers.
It was first developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the Israel Aircraft Industries’ Elta Group and was declared operational in 2009.
The system, which has been used on Merkava tanks since 2011, helped prevent the destruction of even a single tank during Protective Edge.
The installation of the system on the Namer is a fairly natural step, as the APC has a Merkava chassis. In addition to meaning leopard, Namer is also an abbreviation formed from the Hebrew words APC (Nagmash) and Merkava.
