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IDF Wants To Swap Tank
Technology With US
By Amnon Barzilai
Haaretz.com
10-18-3

The Israel Defense Forces is prepared to transfer to the United States all technological know-how used in the production of the Merkava tank in return for participating in the development of the American tank of the future that will replace the Abrams (M1-A2).
 
The exchange idea was raised by the commander of the IDF ground forces, Major General Yiftah Ron Tal, at a meeting in August with the president of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems, James Albaugh, who was visiting Israel at the time. Ron Tal said that when production of the Merkava Mark 4 was completed, he would like the Israeli armored corps to equip itself with the future American tank.
 
The Pentagon has given Boeing, the world's largest airplane producer, responsibility for developing the weapons systems for the American military's Future Forces. The multibillion-dollar project will also involve developing the tank of the future. The planned tank will be much lighter (about a third of the weight of the Merkava) and will move on wheels rather than on tracks. It will be possible to transport it by plane.
 
The idea is to halt production of the Merkava only after a reserve division and a regular brigade are fully outfitted with the Merkava Mark 4 tank, Haaretz has learned. There are some 300 tanks in a division and 100 in a brigade. According to foreign publications, the IDF has more than 1,300 Merkavas, making the tank the backbone of the armored divisions now that the Centurion and Patton tanks have been taken out of service.
 
Since its inception in 1970, some $6.5 billion have been invested in the Merkava project. According to figures presented to Defense Ministry officials by Brigadier General Amir Nir, head of the the ministry's division dealing with the Merkava, the defense establishment will lose billions of dollars if the project is stopped in the middle of production. The ministry has acquired equipment for the production lines of the tank for the next three years.
 
Halting the project could also have an adverse affect on the large tank-upgrading project that Israel Military Industries is carrying out in Turkey, using technology from the Merkava to update 170 Patton tanks. That project is worth some $700 million, but no real profit will be made unless the number of tanks to be upgraded is significantly increased. Ron Tal has warned that Turkey will not expand the deal if the Merkava project is shut down.
 
© Copyright 2003 Haaretz. All rights reserved
 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/350848.html
 

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