At a time when the IDF general staff is considering whether to give priority in budgeting to ground forces over the Israel Air Force or vice versa, the government and military leadership are facing increasing calls from the Manufacturers Association to choose the former.
Israel Metal Industries Association general manager Yehuda Haiman said on Tuesday that "Any further delay or prevarication by the political leadership or the IDF on further orders for the Merkava tank in the coming years could hit exports and production lines hard." He added that the delay in reaching a decision was already causing disruption at many factories, increasing the risk of closure of vital production lines, loss of essential infrastructure, and the irreversible loss of critical capabilities that have national importance.
This is not the first time that the Manufacturers Association has fought the possible axing of the Merkava project, with the backing, in many cases, of local authority leaders. This is because the Merkava's systems are produced at 200 different factories, 40% of which are located in outlying regions. Given that these factories employ 10,000 people, such a decision could have a clear impact on employment figures. For this reason, past proposals to axe the project and replace it with the purchase of cheaper US - made "Abrams" tanks, using US military aid, have been repeatedly rejected.
Haiman also refers to the Second Lebanon war last year as proof of the necessity of the new Merkava Mark 4 Tank. He claims that the tank demonstrated a high rate of survivability on the battlefield, and it should therefore replace 40% of the IDF's older tanks within two decades.
The truth, however, is entirely different. It was precisely during the Lebanon war that the defense establishment realized that the Merkava tanks were also vulnerable to severe damage, often with fatal results. 47 Merkava tanks were hit by missiles during the fighting and two more were hit by roadside bombs. In all, 33 soldiers died in the attacks.
Moreover, the Israeli tanks barely managed to advance a few kilometers against Hizbollah's Russian-made anti tank missiles. These were mainly the third-generation laser-guided Fagot, and Kornet rockets. Some of the missiles have a tandem charge, designed to penetrate reactive armor and explode inside the tank.
The threat posed by anti tank missiles is even graver when it comes to Syria, which in recent years has been acquiring Kornet, Fagot and the French-made Milan anti-tank missiles on an unprecedented scale. This procurement has exacerbated the dilemma over the importance of the Merkava tank in the ground battle arena. Israel's defense companies will be asked to invest less in steel reactive armor, and more in technological protection that will provide tanks with a form of "defense umbrella", using various scrambling methods.
It is believed that in the wake of criticism of the "IDF's plasma generation", the defense establishment is likely to invest more in land-based forces, but not necessarily tanks. Such investment will probably take the form of procurement of advanced armored personnel vehicles for infantry stationed largely in the territories, and other accompanying equipment.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 23, 2007
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