Tel Aviv: Israeli company Elbit Systems was awarded a contract valued at approximately $107 million to provide, operate and maintain the new Main Battle Tank (MBT) simulation and training centres of the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) Armoured Corps. The new training centres will train commanders and soldiers of the Armoured Corps and will maintain readiness of  both regular and reserve units. The centres will be delivered over a three-year period and the contract includes operation and maintenance services for an additional period of fifteen years.

The centres will enable the IDF armoured corps to simulate and train on all types of armoured platforms including the new version of the Israeli made Merkava tank. The future simulation and training centres will operate on the IDF’s cloud using the Elbit Systems’ cloud-native platform-agnostic OneSim simulation software infrastructure. The IDF’s new MBT training systems will include high fidelity platform trainer turrets and high fidelity platform trainer drivers with accurate physical models. The training systems integrate the tank’s operational sub-systems and simulate main and secondary armament weapon capabilities, all connected to an innovative common synthetic simulation environment, aiming to provide commanders and tank crews with the capability to experience a range of real-life battlefield challenges. The systems will support individual and collective training up to company level.

The new training centres will incorporate dedicated stations designed to train the crews together with operational intelligence, combat support and logistic units enabling the training of all the components of the combined arms company in a range of operational combat scenarios. Integrated advanced recording and debriefing capabilities will enable event reruns, logging and data analysis as well as trainees performance tracking, from qualification training to training during reserve duty.

Elbit Systems’ training and simulation technological solutions have been selected to-date by a range of customers among them the US, Israel, the UK, Greece, The Netherlands, Poland and others.

Bezhalel (Butzi) Machlis, President and CEO of Elbit Systems, said: “We are proud to support the IDF’s efforts to elevate its tank training to the next level. Armed Forces around the world are redesigning their training capabilities seeking to increase readiness while improving efficiency at the same time. This contract award underlines our leading position in this area.”