WILMINGTON, Mass. -- Textron Defense Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company, announced today that the maturity and performance of its Tactical Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) Airbag Protection System (TRAPS) have been demonstrated through rigorous government testing completed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) under the Active Protection Systems Live Fire Test and Evaluation effort, which was mandated by Congress in 2008.

More than six weeks of OSD testing demonstrated the ability of two patent-pending countermeasure configurations of the scalable TRAPS architecture, which incorporates Textron Defense Systems' sensor technology, to identify and defeat RPG threats. The first configuration utilizes the company's proprietary airbag technology as the countermeasure to defeat threats; the second countermeasure, called TRAPSNet, is comprised of a modular net system. These are the first in a family of countermeasures that will enable spiral upgrades to address advanced threats while maintaining the common hardware of the TRAPS system.

During the testing, the TRAPS architecture was integrated onto a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected, or MRAP, vehicle. The OSD's testing goals included evaluating system effectiveness in protecting the vehicle from threats, as well as creating an information baseline for consideration during possible future defense acquisition programs. The rigorous test plan included emulated and live RPG threats against both stationary and moving vehicles from several angles and ranges. TRAPS demonstrated exceptional performance consistent with its design in each test scenario.

"We designed the TRAPS architecture to be flexible, scalable and highly effective," says Chief Technology Officer Thomas McNamara of Textron Systems Corporation. "The system is compatible with multiple military vehicle types, and it delivers reliable, robust performance against different RPG threats while minimizing costly, time-consuming modifications and vehicle recertification tests. In addition, TRAPS offers significantly lower weight and demonstrated lower collateral damage than competing active protection systems. Following the successful OSD testing, we are prepared to deliver the customer a mature, affordable and rapidly deployable active vehicle protection solution."

Textron
26.05.2010