Israel Military Industries Received Order By IDF For M339 Tank

Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) has recently received an order by the IDF, totaling more than several dozen million NIS, for M339 tank rounds for its Merkava Mk3 and Merkava Mk4 Main Battle Tanks. The M339 will join the combat proven M329 Multi-Purpose tank round, (Hebrew name: “Calanit”), which has recently been awarded the prestigious 2011 Israel Defense Award for its meaningful contribution to the security of Israel. The M339 tank round has been developed primarily for use by western tanks using NATO 120 mm smoothbore guns, such as the M1A1, Ariete, K2 and Leopard 2, etc. Equipped with an Insensitive Munition (IM) warhead, the round provides an affordable, easy-to-operate solution for fighting in urban scenarios and is therefore very suitable for NATO armies’ operational needs. The round is designed to engage various targets at extended ranges, including bunkers, vehicles and fortifications, as well as Anti-Tank squads and infantry in the open. M339 uses an electronic fuzing system and has three different modes of operation: -- PDD (Point Detonation Delay), PD (Point Detonation/ Super Quick) and Air Burst. -- An inductive setter is used to set the mode of operation. In Air Burst mode it is also required to set the burst time for the fuze to detonate at the correct distance (The round’s explosion time is derived from the tank’s Laser Range Finder through the Fire Control System - FCS).