Fue presentado por ISRAEL, el Vehículo blindado para transporte de personal EITAN, desarrollado como una plataforma multimisión blindada, de bajo costo, que permitirá a ISRAEL equiparse con material propio y comenzar el progresivo reemplazo de los nobles pero antiguos M113, que ya han cumplido su ciclo. Se prevé que el EITAN esté equipado con la nueva generación de sistema de protección Activa, basándose en el existente y probado TROPHY, desarrollado por RAFAEL. Se prevé además que esté equipado con un sistema de armas que incluya una torre autónoma (RWS-Remote Weapon Station) con un arma de 30/40mm con toda su dotación de municiones y sensores. En el marco del programa del Ejército de Tierra de Israel, se prevé que el EITAN este provisto a las Fuerzas en un plazo de 5 años.
TEL AVIV — Israel unveiled Monday its indigenous Eitan demonstrator, a wheeled, actively protected armored personnel carrier (APC) that it hopes to purchase in vast quantities over the coming decade and beyond.
At less than 35 tons, the 8×8 wheeled Eitan — Hebrew for steadfast — weighs and will cost nearly half that of new Merkava Mk4-based Namer heavy carriers now in production, according to the Ministry of Defense (MoD).
Both new vehicles are designed to carry 12 infantrymen and will replace the thousands of M113s that still support the bulk of Israeli infantry forces.
Brig. Gen. Baruch Matzliah, head of the MoD’s Tank Production Office that developed both vehicles, said Eitan “will be the most advanced, protected wheeled fighting tool in the world.”
According to the officer, Eitan was designed as a low-cost, multi-mission platform, which will allow Israel to equip itself with more vehicles at a higher rate in parallel to purchases of the Namer heavy APC.
Eitan is expected to incorporate a new generation of active protection, based on the Trophy Active Protection System (APS) developed by state-owned Rafael. It also will feature an advanced, unmanned 30- or 40-millimeter turret and a full compliment of munitions and sensors.
“It will be a lot lighter [than Namer] and will be designed to cost,” Maj. Gen. Guy Zur, commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Ground Forces Command, told Defense News in an interview earlier this year. “It may be less good [as the Namer], but it will be affordable and allow us to equip a large part of our force.”
Matzliah said the project was borne from operational lessons learned from the 2014 Gaza war. Capable of unassisted road travel at more than 90 kilometers per hour, the Eitan — the first wheeled carriers in Israel’s military history — “enable fast, strategic mobility” and are “tailored to the existing threats in the arena,” Matzliah said.
Fuente: http://www.defensenews.com
