News for all things related to Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles
This POTD is taken from IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly, who are reporting that the IDF has unveiled a prototype of the Namer APC with a 30mm gun mounted in an unmanned turret. This represents a considerable upgrade in firepower over the existing Namer armament of a single .50 cal machine gun. Read more here.
Jane’s IHS is reporting that Israel has announced that it has completed the installation of the first Rafael Trophy HV active protection system on a Namer APC. Trophy is an active defense system which uses radar to detect and track incoming rockets and missiles and destroys them by firing multiple explosively formed projectiles. Trophy has been deployed in the field on Israeli Merkava tanks. The article notes that Trophy will be included in all new production Namer vehicles but that there are no immediate plans to install it on existing vehicle.
Industry video about Trophy:
IDF M113 APC, slated to be replaced by 8×8 Eitan APC in 2020’s
Defense News is reporting that Israel’s Tank Production Authority is producing a prototype of an eight-wheeled APC. Named the Eitan, this 8×8 vehicle will weigh nearly half as much as the Namer heavy APC and replace the aging M113 APCs that are still in service. Eitan, which means “steadfast” in Hebrew, is described as incorporating “a new generation of active protection, an advanced turret and a full complement of munitions and sensors.” Serial production of the vehicle is planned for 2020. According to Maj. Gen Guy Zur, commander of the IDF Ground Forces Command, “It may be less good [than the Namer], but it will be affordable and allow us to equip a large part of our force.”
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Israeli Defense Ministry has doubled the number of orders for parts for Merkava tanks and Namer armored personnel carriers (APCs). The move comes ahead of an expected rise in the number of IDF orders for Merkava Mk 4 tanks and Namer APCs, as well as the need to replace parts for these ground forces vehicles following their heavy use during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer.
Tank and AFV News 