Stolen Ex-Israeli Tank Found In Junkyard
A decommissioned Merkava II main battle tank was found by Israeli police in a junkyard in the city of Nesher in northern Israel, after it had been reported as stolen from a training base in the area.
Israeli authorities report that two suspects in their 40s have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the theft of the tank. The theft is now being jointly investigated by the Israeli defense ministry and the Israeli police, with the latter still investigating possible motives for the theft.
In a joint statement, the defense ministry and the Israel Defense Forces said that the stolen tank was an empty hull that had been stripped of all armament and operational systems, with the tank previously placed as a static vehicle in a military exercise area open to the public.
The IDF began phasing out its Merkava IIs in 2015, with the last units assigned to the tanks reservist brigades tasked with border patrols during a major conflict. The Merkava IIs have been replaced by a combination of the newer Merkava III and Merkava 4 tanks.
The Merkava II entered full scale production in 1983 as a refined version of the Merkava I, with improvements to the tank’s powertrain, fire control system and armor protection. The design received several upgrades throughout its service with the IDF, culminating in the Dor Dalet (Fourth Generation) or IID version, which upgraded the tank with a modular composite armor package. The stolen tank appears to be an earlier Merkava II that did not receive the composite armor upgrade.
Some Merkava IIs were scheduled for conversion into heavy armored personnel carriers following their retirement, and more recently it has been rumored that two European nations are interested in procuring ex-Israeli Merkava IIs and Merkava IIIs as part of a regional trend of military buildups and modernization following Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.