The Israeli ‘Namer’ is a heavily armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) which has been in service since 2008. The hull is based from the Merkava Mk. IV; thus making this vehicle heavily armoured due to the amount of protection this 60 tonne vehicle carries. The vehicle was developed by Israeli Ordnance Corps. As of October 2010 the IDF are in total going to receive 60 of these vehicles with a current 10 already in service as of early 2010. The IDF is already committed into building 800 of these vehicles.
Armaments
The weapons on this vehicle utilizes the Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station. (RCWS) This type of weapons station can house the M2 Browning machine gun (50 cal) and also the Mk.19 belt fed grenade launcher. However the vehicle can also carry on top weapons which utilize the 7.62 mm machine gun and other variants of this vehicle include a 60 mm mortar system. The Namer is also armed with 12 smoke grenade launchers.
Other information
The Namer (IFV) is powered by a 1200 hp turbo-charged engine, the same engine seen on earlier models of the Merkava, namely the Merkava III which has a power to weight ratio of 20 hp/tonne. The vehicle itself is able to carry an additional 9 fully equipped infantry along with the 3 crewman, gunner, driver and Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station (RCWS) operator. Early in the stage of choosing a new infantry carrier the IDF looked at the US Stryker, however the IDF preferred the Namer IFV and chose this vehicle as the main infantry carrying and fighting vehicle. The reason however the IDF were looking for a new vehicle was because the M113 (APC) had shown vulnerabilities (To IEDs and RPGs) during the conflict of 2004 between Israel and Gaza. The Namer has a V shaped hull to withstand blasts from IEDs and can also survive in nuclear conditions as it has an NBC protection system installed to combat chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) conditions.
