Anna Forrester
General Dynamics will provide production kits for the Namer (Leopard) heavy armored personnel carriers to Israel’s defense ministry under a six-year, $310 million contract funded through U.S. military assistance, Defense News reported Tuesday.
Barbara Opall-Rome writes that General Dynamics’ land systems business will then assemble and install Namer components and subsystems at a facility in Tel Hashomer, Israel.
The contract adds to a deal signed in 2011 for the delivery of an initial 111 production kits for the APC, which the country’s defense ministry said was deployed during the conflict in Gaza last year.
GDLS has also produced Namer engines and chassis for Israel under a previous $250 million contract, Opall-Rome reports.
The report said other components of the APC will come from local companies such as Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which will equip new Namer units with the Trophy active protection system.
