Tel Aviv: The Israel Ministry of Defence makes the necessary preparations to increase the production rate of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) armoured platforms, following their role in the ongoing war that has broken out on October 2023.
“The Merkava main battle tank, the Eitan wheeled APC and the Namer, the Merkava based heavy APC, have proven their critical role in war,” Brig General Oren Giber, head of the Israel Ministry of Defence’s Merkava and Armoured Vehicles Directorate (MANTAK) said in an exclusive interview.
The senior officer said that the three Israeli made advanced armoured platforms have taken a major role in all the ground operations that the IDF has performed in the war. “This role is based on an ongoing modernisation strategy we adopted years ago, that helps us keep our platforms best fitted to current battlefield, from systems reliability to protection and survivability level,” he added.
Brig General Giber confirmed that the Trophy Active Protection System (APS) was effective in “high percentage of the cases when the Merkava was targeted by different anti-tank weapon.”
”We investigated each of these attacks and used the data to better understand the operational events and to support improvements of the APS further.”
The war is the first time the upgraded Merkava 4 – Barak (Lightening) participated in combat. The Hamas terror organisation in Gaza has been equipped with different anti-armour weapons. “The Barak was thrown into battle half ready, and still we have proved ourselves it is a superb weapon system. We develop it, ready to be changed with the right protection and improved situational awareness to allow it to fight in every location that is needed and to perform any attack plan.”
Brig General Giber revealed that the upgraded version of the Merkava 4 is equipped with touch screens that give the tank commander a clear panoramic view of the battle area and other sensors that provide the commander with ”real time assistance, uses artificial Intelligence.”
In addition to the touchscreens, the tank commander will have a special targeting helmet. This helmet, the “Iron Vision”, is under development by Elbit Systems. The Iron Vision, according to Elbit is a “see-through armour” technology which has been developed for fighter pilots, to provide unparalleled situational awareness and operational safety.
The exceptional level situational awareness is achieved by fusing data from multiple external sensors and projecting it in high-resolution, full-colour imagery directly onto the helmet visor.
It is MANTAK’s intention to incorporates augmented Reality (AR) elements, enabling the display of weapon sights, UAV feeds, and tactical data. It will be able to lock onto and track threats simply by the commander’s gaze, streamlining the sensor-to-shooter cycle.
An advanced main computer gives the tank’s crew the ability to focus on the most relevant targets while sharing the data with other tanks and other units on the ground and in the air.
The senior officer added that by using advanced User Experience (UX) methods the most relived data is presented to the tank’s crew.
Brig General Giber pointed to another developing capability of the Merkava tanks – equipping them with drones systems. “We work tirelessly to make sure the crew in the tank have what they need and try to do as much as we possibly can to keep them safe. This means pushing forward with advanced technologies and supporting them with real-time AI,” he concluded.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
