Namer ICV Expands Merkava into a Family of Combat Vehicles

The 13th Infantry Battalion of the Golani Brigade was the first Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit to convert from the T-55 based Achzarit armored infantry carrier to the new Infantry Combat Vehicle – the Namer. With the Merkava tank and new Namer ICV, the IDF is expanding the Merkava platform into a family of combat vehicles, to include a tactical support vehicle, armored MedEvac, an Armored Recovery Vehicle (ARV) and, potentially, future weapons carriers.Namer uses the basic design and components of the tank, but designed from baseline as an optimized infantry combat vehicle. Despite the basic similarities, At a fully loaded combat weight of 60 tons, this vehicle is almost as heavy as a Merkava Mk 4 tank. This fact underlines the most important factor in the Namer design – its superior protection and mobility.

The Namer program is a major element in the IDF US$60 billion 'Tefen 2012' five-year modernization plan currently underway. The new vehicle utilizes much of the advanced command and control systems developed for the IDF ground forces digitization program (Zayad), the vehicle will be supporting the new Battle Management System for the dismounted Infantry, designed by Elbit Systems to support the dismounted 'Integrated Advanced Soldier' (IAS) system.Beyond the Merkava tank and Namer ICV, the Merkava family of vehicles also includes a tactical support vehicle, providing maintenance and support for the combat team. An armored ambulance is also being configured, replacing the vulnerable M-113. Preparations for both missions are already configured in the Namer design................................................Read more @ Defense-Update

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