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.
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