Steadfast.

This is coolbert:

Wheels and not tracks?

From Freeper the Israeli adopts a new approach to the concept of the heavy-armored personnel-carrier [HAPC]!

"New Israeli APC may be produced in US"

"The Defense Ministry [Israeli] is mulling manufacturing the planned new IDF armored personnel carrier - the Eitan - in the US and purchasing it with US military aid. The planned new IDF armored personnel carrier (APC) - the Eitan - will be manufactured in the US and purchased by Israel with US military aid, according to internal discussions by the IDF land forces and the Ministry of Defense. Such a decision is liable to disappoint Israeli defense companies and dozens more small and medium-sized companies in Israel involved in the Merkava tank program."

"Eitan (Hebrew for 'steadfast') is an armoured fighting vehicle developed . . . to replace the aging M113 armored personnel carrier in use by the Israel Defense Forces. It is to be an 8-wheeled vehicle much lighter than the Namer, weighing less than 35 tons, and will be fitted with the Trophy active protection system . . . The Eitan can be equipped with a 30–40 mm gun and a missile firing position."

"According to Brigadier General Baruch Matzhliah, the vehicle will complement, not replace, the Namer tracked APC; as a wheeled vehicle, it will cost half as much as the Namer and, unlike tracked vehicles, can transport infantry squads on roads without relying on tank transporters".

Israel very fond of taking old tank chassis and converting them to HAPC. Eitan is not a conversion?

See previous blog entry regarding Israeli HAPC:

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/11/shot-hapc.html

coolbert.