Eitan (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

for "steadfast", "firm" or "strong") is an

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured cars, ...

(AFV) developed by the Merkava and Armored Vehicles Directorate in the IMOD to replace the aging M113 armored personnel carrier in use by the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

Overview

The Eitan is an 8-wheeled vehicle much lighter than the

Namer Namer ( he, נמ"ר, ), means "leopard" and also a syllabic abbreviation of "Nagmash" (APC) and "Merkava", is an Israeli armoured personnel carrier based on a Merkava Mark IV tank chassis. Namer was developed by and is being assembled by the ...

, weighing less than 35 tons, fitted with the Iron Fist Light Decoupled

active protection system An active protection system is a system designed to actively prevent certain anti-tank weapons from destroying a vehicle. Countermeasures that either conceal the vehicle from, or disrupt the guidance of an incoming guided missile threat are design ...

. The AFV has a top speed of 90 km/h and can carry 12 men including 3 crew. The Eitan can be equipped with a 30–40 mm gun and a missile firing position. The armor is STANAG 4569 level 4. The Eitan will replace hundreds of M113s currently in service. According to Brigadier General Baruch Matzliah, the vehicle will complement, not replace, the Namer tracked APC; as a wheeled vehicle, it will cost half as much as the Namer and, unlike tracked vehicles, can transport infantry squads on roads without relying on tank transporters. The Eitan has

run flat tires A run-flat tire/tyre is a pneumatic vehicle tire that is designed to resist the effects of deflation when punctured, and to allow the vehicle to continue to be driven at reduced speeds - under – and for limited distances – usually , depending ...

and is designed with a protected, relatively high floor to protect from mine and IED blast effects. The first Eitan AFV was unveiled on August 1, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eitan AFV (Vehicle) Armoured personnel carriers of Israel Wheeled armoured personnel carriers Eight-wheeled vehicles

Overview

See also

References