Tel Aviv: The war in Ukraine creates very interesting situations, not only on the battle ground. At least two countries, one of them in Europe, want to buy old versions of the Israeli famous Merkava battle tank.

The US Department of Defence was asked by the Israeli ministry of defence to approve the export of old Merkava Mark 2 and Mark 3 to two foreign countries, one in Europe.

The Israeli made tanks have been decommissioned and are stored in different bases. Israel needs the US approval as the tanks are powered by a US made engine. The Israeli defence forces (IDF) armoured corps is using Merkava Mk 4 and recently the upgraded version unofficially dubbed Merkava 5 began to enter service.

According to industry sources, the upgraded Merkava 4 “Barak” (Lightning) will be outfitted with an improved Trophy APS system made by Rafael and a commander helmet that prioritises the pertinent data gathered by the tank’s sensors and other sources on the battlefield. The majority of the new features being developed for the upgraded version are highly classified .

Defence sources said that if the sale of the old tanks is approved the list of systems will include only unclassified systems.

The sudden demand for tanks is explained by Israeli sources as one lesson from the war in Ukraine. Since the war in Ukraine began some 15 months ago, Russia has lost more than 2000 tanks. Israeli sources said that the Russian tanks that were sent to Ukraine spatially in the first months of the war were poorly protected.

“Following the war in Europe, several countries expressed interest in acquiring Merkava tanks from the IDF’s surplus. The discussions have not yet resulted in an agreement and await approval from the Ministry of Defence as well as the interested countries,” the Ministry of Defence said in a official statement.