On June 14, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that the production of the first Eitan wheeled armored personnel carrier was completed. The vehicle will soon be delivered to the Israel Defense Forces.
According to Brigadier General Guy Paglin, head of the Armored Vehicles Directorate of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the vehicle will be gradually transferred to the Land Forces of the Israeli Defense Forces. “The development of new weapons allows us to replace the old and less advanced solutions, thus promising that our soldiers will be equipped with the best, most advanced military equipment for various tasks,” he said.
The main producer of Ejtan is Israel Military Industries. Ejtan is an 8×8 wheeled armored transporter. The vehicle is approx. 8 m long, approx. 2.8-3 m wide and approx. 2.5 m high. Its permissible total weight is perhaps even about 40 tons, and in the lightest configuration it weighs about 30 tons – so it is probably relatively well armored. The vehicle is powered by a 560 kW / 750 HP diesel engine which, in combination with an automatic gearbox, can accelerate Eitan to around 90 km / h on a paved road. In addition to the crew of three, it takes 9 landing soldiers (according to other sources, even 10). Its armament can be self-defense shooting weapons, placed in a remotely controlled shooting position, or the Mate 30 turret, identical to the one used on the Elbit ROBUST unmanned vehicle presented at the Eurosatory show.