Eitan AFV is an israeli 8x8 armoured fighting vehicle developed by the Merkava and Armored Vehicles Directorate in the IMOD (Israel Ministry of Defence).

Developed to replace the aging and lightly-armored M113 carriers from IDF inventory, this next generation armoured personnel carrier was designed to be lighter and faster than the heavy tracked Namer, and to complement the Merkava chasis-based APC in the Israel Defense Forces.

Being an 8x8 wheeled vehicle, it will also be considerable cheaper to produce and maintain than the heavily armored Namer.

Namer has a price ranging from $3 million to aproximately $5 million fully equiped. With Eitan, Israel will save 50% of the price per vehicle, so we can expect that Eitan will cost somewhere between $1.5 to $2.5 million.

Being the first vehicle of this kind developed by Israel, Eitan stands out for it's unique design.

Israel's first wheeled 8x8 APC will have a crew of three including commander, driver and RCWS operator and will embark up to nine soldiers.

Protection

At a weight between 30 to 35 tonnes, Eitan is expected to be one of the world's most protected armored personnel carriers along with Western counterparts like Piranha V or Boxer.

On top of that, the 8x8 Eitan APC, will be fitted with the combat proven Trophy active protection system. Trophy can intercept and destroy rockets and missiles and was already successfuly tested in battle. Also known as ASPRO-A, it was already installed on Merkava tank and Namer personnel carrier.

Armament

Little information is known at the time about the configuration of the series models, but regarding the armament, most likely Eitan can be fitted with a turret equiped with an 30 to 40 mm gun and an anti-tank rocket laucher.

Mobility

In order to make such a heavy wheeled vehicle agile enough, the new israeli APC will be powered by an impressive 750 hp (559 kW) diesel engine.