Rolls-Royce Solutions America has won a $73.5 million contract to provide power-pack kits for Israel’s Merkava main battle tanks.
The agreement will be funded through fiscal year 2026 Foreign Military Sales allocations for Israel, with work scheduled for completion by December 31, 2032. It includes delivery of Merkava Power Pack Less Transmission full and lite kits, metal shipping containers, and contractor-furnished engineering and technical support services. The US Army Contracting Command at Detroit Arsenal is managing the contract.
The Merkava Mk 4 is powered by a 1,500-horsepower General Dynamics GD883 (MTU 883) turbocharged V-12 diesel engine—about 25 percent more powerful than the 1,200-horsepower engines used in earlier Mk 3 models. The same propulsion architecture is also used in Israel’s Namer infantry fighting vehicle, which is derived from a modified Merkava chassis.
The Rolls-Royce-produced kits are designed to support sustainment, overhaul, and lifecycle maintenance, ensuring continued readiness of Israel’s armored units. Each power pack is a modular, drop-in assembly combining the engine, cooling system, filtration, wiring, sensors, and auxiliary components, enabling rapid replacement and reducing downtime from days to hours.
The contract’s blend of full and lite kits supports two maintenance pathways: full kits for depot-level rebuilds and major resets, and lite kits for field-level servicing, quick replacement of high-wear parts, and configuration alignment across different variants.
