Israel Develops Armor Testing Method

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel has developed a system designed to reduce the cost
and time of developing armored military platforms.
The Israel Institute of Technology, or Technion, has developed a model
that saves millions of dollars and significantly reduces the development
process of the new Israeli armored fighting vehicle, Namer. The heavy AFV
uses the chassis of the Israel Army's fleet of Merkava Mk-1 main battle
tank. The army envisions production of up to 200 Namers over the next five
years.
"The methodology consists of carrying out a series of optimization tests
of the armored system using scaled-down models instead of the usual series
of expensive and time-consuming tests of full-sized models," the Technion
said.
The system was developed as part of a doctoral dissertation by [Ret.]
Col. Avi Neuberger, who until late 2007 worked in the Defense Ministry's
Mantak project, which included Merkava. Neuberger, today a consultant,
proposed the research project in wake of the Palestinian bombings of two
Merkava Mk-3 MBTs in the Gaza Strip in 2002.