Israel began mass production of wheeled armored personnel carrier "Eitan"
In Israel, mass production of the latest wheeled armored personnel carrier "Eitan" began. This was reported by the bmpd blog with reference to material published by oleggranovsky.
It is reported that on February 9 of this year, the Israeli Ministry of Defense officially announced the start of mass production of Eitan wheeled armored personnel carriers. The first vehicles will enter the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the end of the next, 2021.
As previously reported, the development of the Eitan wheeled armored personnel carrier was started by the BTT Directorate in the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MANTAK - “Minhelet ha-REKEM”) in 2014 and took five years. The new armored personnel carrier widely uses many technologies already developed on tank "Merkava" and heavy armored personnel carrier "Namer". The Eitan assembly will also be based on the same lines at the Repair and Restoration Center (MASHA-7000 in Tel-a-Shomer) AOI, where Merkava and Namer are produced.
According to reports, more than 60 companies from Israel and the United States will participate in the production of the new APC. It is alleged that 50% of the details of the armored personnel carrier will be produced in the United States, this is done in order to partially finance the production through American military assistance. The transfer of the production of parts from Israel to the United States will occur gradually. Of the Israeli share of parts, only 10% will be produced at the IDF army, the rest will be produced by civilian enterprises.
A German 750-hp will be installed on the armored personnel carrier. MTU diesel instead of the American Caterpillar. The cost of one armored personnel carrier will be 3 million dollars.
As previously written, Eitan’s wheeled armored personnel carrier will carry 13 people (3 crew members + 10 landing personnel), it will receive an Iron Fist active defense complex, as well as an uninhabited turret with cannon weapons, called the Zrikhon ( "Turret"). This combat module is armed with a 30 mm cannon, coaxial 7,62 mm machine gun and the Gil anti-tank system (Spike LR II). According to the developers, all weapons of the module have particularly high elevation angles, which will allow shelling targets located on the upper floors of buildings.
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