The Philippine Ministry of National Defence announced that Elbit Systems won the light tank tender. This was after a competition between Elbit Systems, South Korea’s Hanwha Defence joint ventured with Turkey’s Otokar, and Indonesia’s PT Pindad.

The Philippines, which prefers the Sabrah light tank system, will buy both tracked and wheeled variants of the platform.

The deal, which covers 18 tracked and 10 wheeled tanks, will be worth USD 193.6 million.

The Sabrah Light Tank system uses either a tracked armoured platform using the ASCOD 2 from General Dynamics European Land Systems or a wheeled armoured vehicle platform using the GDELS-Excalibur Army Pandur II 8×8, to meet customer requirements. These platforms are integrated with Elbit Systems’ turret developed together with the Israel Defence Force’s Ordnance Corps MANTAK, and a 105mm rifle gun also developed by Elbit Systems.