Defence Technology Institute ( DTI) (Тайланд) отрапортовали чтоББМ 8×8  Black Widow Spider (BSW)успешно прошла серию стандартных тестов.Включая AEP-55 V.2 Edition 1 (Тест на подрыв) подтвердив уровень противоминной защиты STANAG 4569 Level 2a and 2b.

Отредактировано KORVIN (2015-10-23 23:22:16)

Ходят слухи тут и там,ходят слухи про Eitan..

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s Tank Production Authority is producing its first prototype of Eitan, an eight-wheel-drive armored fighting vehicle designed to weigh nearly half as much as the new Namer heavy carriers.

The locally developed Eitan — Hebrew for steadfast — will be deployed alongside new Namers and will replace old M113s that still support the bulk of Israeli infantry.

Sources here said it will weigh no more than 35 tons and will incorporate a new generation of active protection, an advanced turret and a full complement of munitions and sensors.

Field demonstrations are slated by the end of next year, with initial serial production expected to begin by 2020.

“It will be a lot lighter [than Namer] and will be designed to cost,” said Maj. Gen. Guy Zur, commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Ground Forces Command. “It may be less good [than the Namer], but it will be affordable and allow us to equip a large part of our force.”

Defense and industry sources said the MoD-owned Tank Production Authority south of Tel Aviv has one prototype in production and another in its advanced planning phase.

In parallel, MoD’s MAFAT Research and Development Bureau is working on a demonstrator program called Carmel aimed at driving the design of Israel’s future tank, a follow-on to the 65-ton Merkava Mk4.

Sources say Carmel — a Hebrew acronym for Advanced Ground Combat Vehicle — will not be a Merkava Mk5, nor will it replace the Mk4, which is expected to remain in production through 2020.

Rather, it is a research-and-development program aimed at a state-of-the-art, medium-weight combat vehicle. It will most likely be treaded, rather than wheeled, and designed to weigh around 32 tons.

“It won’t be Merkava Mk5. The operational requirement will be something entirely different,” one source said of the envisioned future tank.

Defense and industry sources anticipate development and demonstration testing will extend over the coming decade or more, depending on the maturation of lightweight materials, advanced technologies and a spectrum of planned subsystems.

“Carmel is much longer-range. It will not compete with the ongoing production program [of Eitan] or with the Merkava Mk4,” a defense source told Defense News.