Growth Opportunities in Active Defense Systems for Military Armored Vehicles, 2024
Technological Advancements Catalyze Global Anti-tank Warfare
18-Jan-2024
North America
Market Research
The ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip have reignited, for the first time in decades, a focus of the military ground domain on the battlefield, with an emphasis on the survival of armored vehicle fleets—tanks, armored personnel carriers, and other platforms. In recent years, the foundations for ground active defense systems (APS) have been laid for a series of products that have generated impressive global growth in this unique market.
Technological APS developments enable the expansion of the range of tactical solutions to protect armored vehicles based on four categories: hard-kill, soft-kill, explosive reactive armor (ERA), and mine-resistant ambush-protected systems (MRAPS). Accordingly, the market competitive landscape is changing as more suppliers enter the market, with a long list of possible solutions, while challenging traditional leading defense OEMs in the ground APS domain.
However, difficulties in integrating APS into the armored vehicles' battle management systems (BMS) pose a significant challenge in the process. In that context, vendors who present integrative solutions are given some priority. The main markets for ground APS growth are the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
This report by the Aerospace and Defense practice at Frost & Sullivan seeks to review market trends in depth, point out restraints and accelerators in its development, extensively present key contracts and business cooperations between various defense corporations globally, and provide an in-depth analysis of the business environment and the market competitive landscape.
The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on Active Defense Systems for Military Armored Vehicles Markets
Geopolitical Chaos
Why:
- Intensifying wars, such as the Russo-Ukrainian War and Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, highlight the growing importance of ground forces on the modern battlefield after decades of neglect.
- As a result, the importance of active protection systems (APS) for armored vehicles has increased dramatically and constitutes a fundamental component of warfare in the modern era.
Frost Perspective:
- There is a growing demand to conclude APS integration as a core pillar in the global military build-up programs for armored vehicles' modernization.
- The main emerging and dominant markets for APS during the forecast period include the United States, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, where APS integration will impact competitive traditional military infantry and armored vehicles.
Transformative Mega Trends
Why:
- The emerging evolution of anti-tank warfare is speeding, amid various growing threats to modern armored vehicles on the battlefield, from anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), improvised explosive devices (IEDs), drones, and loitering munitions, up to projectiles.
- These ground offensive weapon system improvements pose a fundamental threat to ground forces, and to main battle tanks (MBTs) and armored personnel carriers (APCs).
Frost Perspective:
- APS has become a strategic factor for MBT survivability and operational lethality effectiveness on the battlefield.
- However, APS is not a genuine battle management system (BMS) for MBTs, so it is challenging to install, operate, and deploy APS as part of MBT system-of-systems digital architecture.
- The leading global APS program is the US Army acquisition of APS for its Bradley and Stryker APC fleets.
Competitive Intensity
Why:
- Technological innovation leads to the development of a series of APS solutions, in four different categories: hard-kill systems, soft-kill systems, explosive reactive armor (ERA), and mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) systems.
- These innovative defensive weapon systems create a wide range of end-user solutions in a growing market.
Frost Perspective:
- Emerging technologies challenge global defense original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who struggle to mitigate the challenge through R&D and systems integrations while implementing emerging business models and M&As to enhance market competitiveness in a dynamic environment.
- The global defense market culture is now more open than ever to facilitate innovative environmental workshops and laboratories, supporting faster and more robust processes to adopt disruptive technologies for APS.
Purpose and Overview
- This report examines the global leading military establishment efforts to initiate and enhance **Title:** for armored vehicles amid the impressive and recent operational performance of ground armored platforms on the battlefield.
- The common definition for APS refers to subsystems installed on a combat vehicle to detect, target, and respond with hard or soft-kill capabilities to various threats, from guided missiles to explosive devices, in three different verticals (aerial, terrain, and sub-terrain domains).
- Currently, the core APS trend focuses on developing future technologies and capabilities to maintain a competitive edge for warfighting armored vehicles as part of armies’ modernization objectives and build-up programs.
- As the military asymmetric threat is more challenging than ever, the need for flexible tactical production lines and robust supply chains becomes crucial for defensive systems. This brings the need to rapidly assess off-the-shelf (OTS) APS to fulfill urgent operational needs for all wheeled and tracked infantry fighting vehicles.
- This report maps the military ground APS leading trends, programs, and platforms in the industry, based on secondary and primary research data. Information has been garnered from the Frost & Sullivan database. A principal industry analyst conducted interviews with leading market vendors, technology innovators, and military end-users. Primary research accounted for 25% of this research.
Growth Drivers
The Changing Nature of Warfare
- As the map of threats for ground asymmetric battlefields intensifies, defense establishments around the world seek to enhance armored vehicle survivability on the modern battlefield. Considering new commercial technologies that are transformed for military use, a new era has come for **Title:** advanced protection methodology and architecture.
- The Russo-Ukrainian War and the Israeli military campaign against the Hamas terrorist group are bringing the focus back to the crucial importance of maneuvering armored vehicles to maximize military objectives on the battlefield, after decades of growing global negligence of ground symmetric platforms. Thanks to **Title:** impressive operational performance, there are increasing demands for affordable, lightweight, and user-friendly ground APS solutions that will increase the survivability of ground platforms.
- In that context, the changing nature of theater military threats brings into discussion the need for superior ground protection against a range of threats.
Rising Demand for Enhanced Situational Awareness
- Tactical situational awareness (SA) has become an operational key factor to ensure that commanders at all levels can make faster and more accurate decisions. In that sense, demands for SA solutions for ground forces are skyrocketing. To some extent, APS is considered part of the SA architecture, as it provides an additional indirect layer of sensors and defensive capabilities to ground armored platforms. As a result, APS is considered as an additional intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) layer, that can support SA architecture—such as using APS as a detection platform for in-theater hostile fire tactical threats. For example, the Trophy APS platform, which is currently considered to be the most advanced solution for this domain, includes a radar system that locates the source of the fire and destroys it before it hits the MBT and even protects the forces next to it.
- Moreover, the current advanced modular APS design installed with independent sensors and sensor-to-shooter (STS) technology is becoming an additional ISR application.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Algorithms to Support Military Defensive Tactical Solutions
As AI technologies integrate into multiple military platforms and enhance operational effectiveness, the relevance of their application in APS solutions increases. AI and ML algorithms dramatically increase the possibility to detect and counter threats in real time, while focusing on modular and scalable APS design that allows for easy integration with other military applications.
APS as an Integral Pillar of Emerging Tactical Battle Management Architecture and Systems
Sensor technology has advanced greatly. The need for constant surveillance has led to more robust solutions providing multiple features such as blue force tracking (BFT), red force tracking, geolocation, and weapon systems integration. Big data analytics and AI have advanced computing power, processing volumes of information faster and automating previously manual tasks, pushing for integrated battle management systems (BMS) advanced solutions. As such, APS systems can work in conjunction with BMS architecture and become another pillar in the operational tactical edge. New targeting APS technology can be placed on MBTs’ helmets, which enables tank commanders to see the ‘outside’ of the tank with peripheral vision.
Growth Restraints
R&D and Integration Costs
- Barriers to entry for new participants are high due to stringent military requirements and costly R&D activities. This restricts the number of off-the-shelf product/service providers and competition for military armored vehicle defense solutions’ contracts. In addition, the emerging demand for integrated APS solutions within the armored vehicle BMS set a substantial barrier for potential vendors.
- Integrating APS systems into armored vehicle sensors and platforms is technologically challenging, as demonstrated through the installation of those protective systems on the US Abrams MBT fleet over the last few years. Even though the program is considered a genuine operative success, vendors and end-users still point out the timeline for systems integration as an obstacle to implementation. A similar case is the US Army M2A4 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as technical issues prevented the full-rate integration of Iron Fist APS.
Economics Burdens
- Looming defense budget conflicts may impact the intensifying competition for budgetary flexibility and prioritization for APS programs, at the expense of other growing needs—in particular, air and naval domains.
- Inflation is taking its toll on the defense industrial base (DIB) globally, but all indications point to transitional inflation as the Russo-Ukrainian War continues to cause supply chain disruptions and permanent economic uncertainty.
- Defense ground-APS governmental establishments must improve their engagement with emerging relevant technology companies, system integrators, and sub-contractors, with specialized domain expertise for positive ROI partnerships and innovative projects, as threats to armored vehicles constantly emerge.
APS Limitations
- APS still suffers from some obstacles that limit its operational effectiveness—for example, limited APS coverage, as some systems can only protect the front or sides of a vehicle leaving other areas vulnerable; limited ammunition for hard-kill APS systems challenging the option to protect against multiple threats; false alarms; and limited effectiveness against certain ATGMs, such as the US Javelin.
Why Is It Increasingly Difficult to Grow?
The Strategic Imperative 8™
The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on Active Defense Systems for Military Armored Vehicles Markets
Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine™
Purpose and Overview
Primary Growth Drivers
Primary Growth Drivers (continued)
Restraints
Military Ground Active Protection Emerging Concept of Operations
Armored Vehicles Kinetic Threat Scenarios on the Modern Battlefield
Hard-kill APS Systems
Soft-kill APS Systems
Explosive Reactive Armor
Mine-resistant Ambush-protected System Solutions
Leading Global Military Programs for Ground APS Solutions, 2022?2023
Leading Global Military Contracts for Ground APS Solutions, 2022?2023
Leading Global Military Contracts for Ground APS Solutions, 2022?2023 (continued)
Global Selected Partnerships in the Ground APS Market
Growth Opportunity 1: Integrating APS to Land BMS
Growth Opportunity 1: Integrating APS to Land BMS (continued)
Growth Opportunity 2: Procurement
Growth Opportunity 2: Procurement (continued)
Growth Opportunity 3: Research and Development
Growth Opportunity 3: Research and Development (continued)
The Last Word
Appendix: Abbreviations
Legal Disclaimer
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Deliverable Type | Market Research |
---|---|
Author | John Hernandez |
Industries | Aerospace, Defence and Security |
No Index | No |
Is Prebook | No |
Keyword 1 | Active Defense Systems Analysis |
Keyword 2 | Military Armored Vehicles Growth Opportunities |
Keyword 3 | Military Vehicle Security Trends |
Podcast | No |
WIP Number | PF8B-01-00-00-00 |