So a few days ago, I talked about a certain revelation on the IDF's cannon artillery acquisition, as it was revealed that it was buying truck-based versions of the ATMOS.
As it turned out, it was indeed true but only a part of the picture.
IDF's military magazine "Bama'hane" ("In the camp") releases new information that the new artillery piece is 5 years away from being absorbed in the army units, will feature a fully automatic loading, and cut the current crew size (8) in half.
The autoloading feature and reduced crew of 4 is not possible with a truck-based solution, and 5 years would be too much as well. So all this information points towards a Merkava based solution.
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| Sholef based on Merkava 1 |
So how should we interpret the alleged purchase of 18 units of the truck-based ATMOS?
Could be perhaps a time-saving decision to allow the IDF to test the rough capabilities of the system and adapt to the new concept of operation while simultaneously developing the vehicle.
It's also possible to assume that IDF intends to buy truck-based ATMOS for the reservists anyway, or at least the ATHOS, as equipping everyone with a Sholef-style artillery piece would be an overly difficult task.
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