Yair Kulas, head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s International Defense Cooperation Agency, revealed on June 15 that the country is in very active negotiations with two countries over the possible acquisition of Merkava main battle tanks from the Israeli stockpile. “We are in advanced negotiations with two potential countries … I can’t name them, but one of them is in continental Europe,” he said, expecting the older Merkava III and Merkava II from the 1980s, other Israeli sources said. The model number becomes the offered variant. According to reports, discussions are underway to transfer as many as 200 tanks to European customers only. The Merkava III remains the most numerous variant, with nearly 800 produced, while the newer Merkava IV accounts for nearly half that number. The Merkava IV variant entered service in 2005, although the class, along with the older Merkava III variant, suffered heavy losses just a month later in a failed Israeli attack on the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Effective use of anti-armor assets, including Russian cornet missiles, can penetrate more than two dozen tanks according to multiple reports.
The unnamed European country has reportedly expressed interest in buying the vehicles because of Israel’s ability to make quick deliveries from its vast reserves, which is especially important amid rapidly escalating tensions with Russia and as a growing number of countries On the mainland they are depleting their tank stocks to move their vehicles to Ukraine. As Yair Kulas observes: “There is potential in the hundreds of millions of shekels out there. The world is chasing the system, the production process takes time, and not everyone has time to wait.” Before Israel, South Korea was the main beneficiary of this trend Or, as it can deliver its latest K2 vehicles among NATO compliant producers at unrivaled speed.
The Merkava tank first joined the Israeli army in 1979, the same year the German Leopard 2 entered service, a year before the American M1 Abrams tank, and due to the poor performance of the American M60 tank, the most powerful tank, development became a priority at the time of the Western world, against Soviet armor during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The Merkava closed some of the key performance gaps of the latest generation of Soviet armor at the time, including the critical use of smoothbore guns – before the West tanks used rifled guns and were about two decades behind the Soviets in surpassing this technology. As observed during the Lebanon War, the initial firepower of the Merkava was still insufficient against new Soviet tanks such as the T-72 used in Syria, leading Syrian leaders to express considerable confidence in the new Soviet vehicle’s design. The T-72, which was also used by neighboring Iraq, proved to be overwhelmingly successful against the latest Western armor. This arguably vindicated Israel’s decision to pursue its own more advanced tanks rather than relying on Western imports, although initially high expectations for exports never materialized. Over time, improvements to the Merkava emphasized armor protection and improved urban combat capabilities, reflecting the requirements of the occupation of large areas of southern Lebanon in the 1980s, and one unusual feature was the integration of mortars. The design could easily be modified for an armored personnel carrier, especially with the engine located at the front, providing further protection for the crew.
Over the past 44 years, the Merkava tank has failed to gain traction in the export market, although Turkey was previously considered a major potential customer and showed strong interest in the design, it eventually chose the more modern South Korea K2 tanks to make up its new generation of tank armor – Korean vehicles will be produced in Turkey under license with some modifications as Altai tanks. However, the fact that Israel has some of the largest stocks of post-70s NATO compatible tanks gives the Merkava an advantage over most competing vehicles in terms of speed of delivery, which more than makes up for other factors that make it less attractive over the last four ten years.
Some sources speculate that Ukraine may be an unnamed European customer for the Israeli tanks, while others point out that third parties may be buying the vehicles with the specific purpose of transferring them to Ukraine — avoiding Israeli objections to directly arming Ukraine. Spain, which has shown a particularly strong willingness to export its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, is one of the other main possible candidates. A major export of Merkava tanks will likely lead Israel to significantly expand production of the class, both to rebuild its stockpile with more modern vehicles and to stockpile the latest models in case further European demand is met. Like South Korea and the United States, Israel has positioned its defense sector as a major beneficiary of a surge in European demand for new weapons as tensions with Russia are expected to remain high for years to come.