Although Continental is most well known for its engines for light aircraft, it was also contracted to produce the air-cooled V-12 AV-1790-5B gasoline engine for the U.S. Army's M47 Patton tank and the diesel AVDS-1790-2A and its derivatives for the M48, M60 Patton and Merkava main battle tanks.
The Merkava 4, uses a German MTU MB 873 Ka-501 air-cooled diesel V12 engine produced under license.
The plant will continue to produce other products including the Israeli Merkava and Abrams Foreign Military tanks during that timeframe.
Merkava |
This experience spurred the creation of the indigenous Israeli Merkava, the development programme of which was led by General Israel Tal, who had worked closely with the British in the Anglo-Israeli Chieftain project.
On 15 February 2005, Maariv reported that a running Namer prototype based on the Merkava Mark I was fielded by the Givati Brigade for trials and evaluation.