The Army had encountered technical problems and funding gaps in its effort to field the active protection system on the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Brig. Gen. Glenn Dean, the program executive officer for Army ground combat systems, told Defense News in the fall that Iron Fist was nearing completion of the majority of required testing.<\/p>\n
According to fiscal 2023 budget justification documents, the Army planned to wrap up testing and integration work by the end of FY22, but the documents provided no further timeline or funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re essentially reaching the point where we\u2019re just waiting for resources, whether Army- or congressionally provided, to proceed into procurement,\u201d Dean said.<\/p>\n
The Bradley\u00a0Iron Fist Light Decoupled\u00a0<\/a>program, or IF-LD, received additional FY22 congressional funding \u2014 a total of $16 million \u2014 to continue a second round of testing and the completion of documentation in support of procuring a single brigade\u2019s worth of IF-LD systems.<\/p>\n \u201cNo procurement funds have been identified to procure IF-LD systems at this time,\u201d the Army\u2019s Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems confirmed.<\/p>\n An Army spokesperson also told Defense News in a statement that the service \u201cwill review the IF-LD test data and look for opportunities in the future to fund this requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n Iron Fist was developed by IMI Systems. Israeli firm Elbit Systems, which bought IMI, partnered with American company General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems to integrate the system to serve as an interim active protection system for the Bradley.<\/p>\n The system is meant to provide the Bradley with protection from rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank guided missiles and other threats. The Army Requirements Oversight Council in November 2018 opted to field one brigade by the end of the fourth quarter of FY20.<\/p>\n Despite the council\u2019s decision, the Bradley couldn\u2019t supply enough power to the launcher system, and the Iron Fist experienced counter-munitions dudding in testing. Those issues delayed the program by about a year.<\/p>\n In earlier testing, \u201cwe had some issues with Iron Fist, mostly maturity issues, and it\u2019s centered around power within the Iron Fist system itself and a problem with the ignition train within the interceptor,\u201d Tim Neaves, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems senior business development director, told Defense News last fall.<\/p>\n Coming out of those tests, Neaves said, the company worked with the Army to find a solution, which included internal investment to continue development and tests. The company has worked on that solution for the last 18 months.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten to the point where we\u2019ve demonstrated that we have fixed those issues, and we\u2019ve gotten a significant maturity level and performance demonstration within the system,\u201d Neaves said. The system, he explained, was put up against roughly 400 threats including single and dual-warheads, anti-tank guided missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and recoilless rifles.<\/p>\n In 2016, the\u00a0Army determined it needed an interim active protection system\u00a0<\/a>for Abrams tanks, Stryker combat vehicles and Bradley vehicles, and so the service decided to rapidly assess off-the-shelf APS systems to fulfill that urgent need.<\/p>\n The Army has already fielded the Rafael-developed Trophy APS on Abrams tanks. Troops have used those\u00a0in the European theater<\/a>\u00a0for more than a year now.<\/p>\n But the service also ran into problems finding an effective\u00a0system that would work on the Stryker<\/a>, and it is yet to decide on a way forward.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/7PC7JFMAMZBP7JQBE5CY63EWYE.jpg\")