Philippines Army Receives First of 20 Sabrah Light Tanks from Elbit Systems

The Armor Division of the Philippine Army (PA) has received one of its newly-acquired Sabrah light tanks.

The tank was displayed during the 87th anniversary celebration of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Monday, which was graced by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

"One Sabrah light tank based on the ASCOD platform mounted with 105mm cannon as the main armament and coaxial 7.62 machine gun was one of the Armor 'Pambato' Division's newest assets that paraded over the 87th founding anniversary of the AFP on December 19, 2022, at the General Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City," the PA's Armor Division said in a Facebook post on Monday night.

It added that the rest of these assets will arrive in early 2023 which is composed of "wheeled and tracked Sabrah light Tanks" that would beef up the 1st Tank Battalion's fleet of armored vehicles.

The Sabrah light tank arrived earlier this month and is now undergoing rigorous testing before being accepted for service.

The Armor Division is expected to receive 20 new Sabrah light tanks from Israeli defense manufacturer Elbit Systems Land and 10 Pandur II wheeled armored vehicles from Steyr-Daimler-Puch between 2023 to 2024.

The PA's light tank acquisition project is under Horizon 2 of the Revised AFP Modernization Program.

The contract is worth around PHP9.4 billion and was acquired via government-to-government mode.

Elbit systems had announced in January 2021 that it was awarded a contract valued at approximately $172 million to supply light tanks to the Army of a country in Asia-Pacific. The contract will be performed over a three-year period.

Elbit Systems will supply the “Sabrah” light tank solution based on the tracked ASCOD platform that is manufactured by General Dynamics European Land Systems Santa Bárbara from Spain (“GDELS“), and on the wheeled Pandur II 8X8 platform manufactured by Excalibur Army from the Czech Republic.

The 30-ton “Sabrah” light-tank combines powerful fire capacity and high maneuverability. Both platforms will be equipped with a 105mm turret and a range of the Company’s subsystems, including electro-optical sights, fire control systems, TORCH-XTM battle management systems, E-LynXTM software defined radio systems and life support systems.