The Philippines Department National Defense has awarded the contract for the Philippine Army’s Light Tank and Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier Acquisition Projects to the Israeli company Elbit Systems. According to information released on Army Recognition on October 24, 2020, the Israeli company Elbit Systems has offered its new Sabrah Light Tank for the Philippine Army’s Light Tank Acquisition Project, which is in competition with Hanwha Systems K21-105 and Otokar Arma 105 light tanks, and Pindad Harimau Light Tank. The Elbit Systems Sabrah light tank is available in two configurations including a tracked variant based on the General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) ASCOD 2 and a wheeled version based on the Pandur II 8×8 armored vehicle also produced by GDELS.
Elbit Systems’ “Sabrah” configurable light tank solution adds highly effective firepower to Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV’s). Based on the success of Elbit fully combat-proven armored vehicles and turrets in use by numerous armed forces around the world, the “Sabrah” series of solutions is the latest generation AFV system developed by Elbit Systems. The modular design enables using the same 105mm turret for tracked or 8X8 wheeled platforms to deliver reliable, high-performance firepower to the battlefield. The Sabrah turret design benefits from the reference of Elbit Systems and the IDF “Merkava” Directorate “MANTAK” combat-proven Armored Vehicles.
The ASCOD (Austrian Spanish Cooperation Development) armoured fighting vehicle family is the product of a cooperation agreement between Austrian Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG (in 1998 the production of heavy armed vehicles was sold out under the name Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug, which is now the producer) and Spanish General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas (both companies are now divisions of a unit of General Dynamics). The ASCOD family includes the LT 105, a light tank equipped with a 105 mm gun, a SAM launcher, an anti-tank missile launcher, mortar carrier, R&R vehicle, Command & Control vehicle, ambulance, artillery observer, and the light tank model.
The Pandur II 8×8 is an improved modular all-wheel-drive version of the Pandur 6×6 APC wheeled armoured vehicle. It was developed as a private venture by the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge and is currently in production for the Portuguese Armed Forces. Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge is part of General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems, which is also the parent company of MOWAG of Switzerland and Santa Bárbara Sistemas of Spain. The Czech company Excalibur Army has offered their Pandur 8×8 wheeled armored vehicle for the Philippine Army’s Wheeled APC acquisition project under the Horizon 2 phase.
