Iron Curtain is dead on Army Strykers but Trophy looks unwieldy too...

via Defense News.

The Army announced this morning that it has rejected Artis LLC’s Iron Curtain active protection system but will test alternatives in November on its 8×8 Stryker armored vehicle. The Army also will launch three new programs to develop additional types of protection for its armored vehicles, all of which should be fielded by 2022:

Story here. 

When I read this story I had a stunning realization.

The US military will never "get into" APS with the emphasis on offensive operations.

That sounds goofy on the surface don't it.

Hear me out.

What do most current gen APS do badly?  They balloon the size of the vehicle...they add unwanted girth that will affect transportability.  They tax already taxed electronics.  They have less than ideal "shots" per loadout.

Read the article for yourself but it seems that the Army is headed toward new reactive armor, laser warning and signatures management.

For some reason it appears that for medium weight and light vehicles APS is out.

I hope the reporting is wrong but if it isn't then the leadership today has made a huge gamble with the force of tomorrow. 

What has to be in the works?

They have to have already made pretty huge strides and are MIGHTY CONFIDENT that those new reactive armor tiles will work and work great. That's the only thing that makes sense to me.