Elbit to upgrade Israeli main battle tanks as firm’s land sector grows

JERUSALEM — Elbit Systems will upgrade the Israel Defense Forces’ Markava main battle tanks under a $210 million contract, the company said this week.

The announcement comes amid a ceasefire currently in place on Israel’s northern and southern fronts with Gaza and Lebanon, respectively, and the public criticism by reservists regarding the operational capabilities of various armored vehicles at the end of the Iron Swords war.

In the first year of this two-year war, several IDF armored vehicles were damaged and, according to a military statement at the time, about 90% were returned to operational activity within a short time.

Elbit stated that the contract for the tank upgrades covers six years. The objective is an “extensive renewal of the electronic assemblies of the tanks to extend their operational service life, as well as the upgrade and enhancement of multiple onboard systems,” the company said.

Also part of the work are “high-performance, lightweight, AI-enhanced electro-optical sights that provide panoramic day- and night-time observation, along with advanced target detection, acquisition, and tracking capabilities.”

The Israeli Merkava tank series is currently in its fourth generation, and about 80% of its components are manufactured in Israel.

Until 2010 Israel refused to sell Merkava tanks, and the first and only export deal was signed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense in2014 with a foreign country that officials here have since declined to name.

In 2023 negotiations were held to sell Merkava Mark 2 and Merkava Mark 3 tanks, which were retired from IDF service, to a European country as well as a South American country whose name was also not disclosed, but talks stopped following the Iron Swords war.

Elbit’s announcement comes a day after it published its financial reports for the third quarter of the year, in which it presented a record order backlog of $25.2 billion as of the end of the quarter.

The main growth that the company presented until the end of last September was recorded in the land sector, where sales amounted to $594 million – a growth of 41% compared to the corresponding quarter. The increase was based mainly on demand from European countries, which amounted to about $536 million.

Israel accounted for about a third of the company’s total sales for the quarter, with about $642 million in revenue.

The tank contract announcement comes amid a mysterious sale to the tune of $2.3 billion, which the company reported on Nov. 17. Elbit said details of the transaction are kept under wraps at the behest of the customer.

Tzally Greenberg is the Israel correspondent for Defense News. He has experience reporting on economic affairs as well as defense and cyber companies.

耶路撒冷——埃尔比特系统公司本周表示，该公司将根据一份价值 2.1 亿美元的合同，升级以色列国防军的 Markava 主战坦克。

此次宣布正值以色列北部与加沙、南部与黎巴嫩分别达成停火协议之际，此前预备役人员公开批评了“铁剑”战争结束后各种装甲车辆的作战能力。

在这场为期两年的战争的第一年，以色列国防军的多辆装甲车遭到损坏，根据当时的一份军方声明，约 90% 的装甲车在短时间内恢复了作战能力。

埃尔比特公司表示，储罐升级合同为期六年。该公司称，目标是“对储罐的电子组件进行全面更新，以延长其使用寿命，并对多个车载系统进行升级和增强”。

这项工作还包括“高性能、轻量化、人工智能增强型光电瞄准器，可提供全景式昼夜观察，以及先进的目标检测、捕获和跟踪能力”。

以色列的梅卡瓦坦克系列目前已发展到第四代，其约 80% 的零部件在以色列制造。

直到 2010 年，以色列一直拒绝出售梅卡瓦坦克。以色列国防部于 2014 年与一个外国签署了第一份也是唯一一份出口协议，但以色列官员此后一直拒绝透露该国的名称。

2023 年，曾就向一个欧洲国家和一个南美国家（国家名称未公开）出售从以色列国防军退役的梅卡瓦 Mark 2 和梅卡瓦 Mark 3 坦克进行谈判，但铁剑战争后谈判停止了。

Elbit 的声明是在该公司发布第三季度财务报告的第二天发布的，报告显示，截至该季度末，其订单积压额创下 252 亿美元的纪录。

截至去年9月底，该公司的主要增长来自土地业务，销售额达5.94亿美元，较上一季度增长41%。这一增长主要得益于欧洲国家的需求，该项需求约为5.36亿美元。

以色列市场约占该公司本季度总销售额的三分之一，收入约为 6.42 亿美元。

在宣布这份储罐合同之际，该公司还公布了一笔价值 23 亿美元的神秘交易，该交易于 11 月 17 日报告。埃尔比特表示，应客户要求，交易细节将保密。

特扎利·格林伯格是《防务新闻》的以色列记者。他拥有丰富的经济事务以及国防和网络安全公司报道经验。