Woefully behind the Russian Army, the U.S. Army is accelerating the development of its Modular Active Protection System (MAPS), its own version of the active protection systems (APS) currently mounted on Russian main battle tanks and some infantry fighting vehicles.

Not one of the U.S. Army's main battle tank (MBT), the M1A2 Abrams, is equipped with an APS, relying instead on its almost impenetrable Chobham hull and turret armor for protection against high-velocity kinetic tank killing rounds and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).

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MAPS, which relies on open architecture systems to rapidly cope with new threats, will also equip infantry fighting vehicles such as the Stryker eight wheeled IFV; armored fighting vehicles such as the Bradley; light tactical vehicles such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and other army vehicles, both wheeled and tracked.

The first phase of MAPS' development will be completed in 2019, according to the United States Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) located in Michigan. TARDEC is the United States Armed Forces' research and development facility for advanced technology in ground systems.

It's part of the Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), a major subordinate command of the United States Army Materiel Command.

MAPS is designed to be easily improved as new dangers emerge. The vision for MAPS is a range of "plug-and-play defenses" adaptable to different threats and to different Army vehicles. The tank and electronics arms of RDECOM have awarded a half-dozen contracts for various parts of MAPS starting 2014.

Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and L-3 Mustang Technologies are developing sensors to detect ATGMs approaching at hundreds of miles per hour; determine which ones might actually hit and sound the alarm in time for MAPS to stop them.

Northrop Grumman and Artis are developing the countermeasures to destroy incoming threats. MAPS demonstrations are scheduled for this year.