Academy Military 1/35 Merkava Mk IID Tank Kit

From its establishment in 1948, the armed forces of Israel have fought to retain its freedom and existence, sometimes against staggering odds. In the numerous conflicts that have fought since 1948, the Israelis were forced to obtain aircraft and armaments from a variety of second-hand sources. As Israel grew and began to prosper, it began to acquire new weapons for defense and was able to muster a modern force structure while keeping older weapons ready in reserve. When the weapons embargoes were put into place during the 1973 war, Israel started in earnest to develop its own defense industries to reduce its dependence on international sources. Today, Israel's technologies are second to none and now instead of importing all of its armaments, it exports these capabilities around the world. Taking the lessons learned from the 1973 war and the technologies that evolved out of that conflict, Israel developed its first indigenous tank - Merkava (Chariot). The Merkava employed a number of i