Israeli Ordnance Corps
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The Israeli Ordnance Corps (Hebrew חיל החימוש) is a combat-support corps in the IDF GOC Army Headquarters. Before the Israeli Technological and Logistics Directorate was dismantled, it fell under its jurisdiction. The corps is responsible for the development and maintenance of war materials, combat-support materials, and other systems.
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[edit] Overview
The corps' training base (#20) is located in Tzrifin. Other units do not fall directly under the corps’ command, but are professionally affiliated with it:
- The Centre for Maintenance and Restoration is the main centre for holding war materials, including the factory where the Merkava tank is manufactured.
- The Centre for Combat Spare Parts administers the supply of spare parts to the IDF in ten bases.
- The Unit for Quality Assurance and Experiments conducts quality control and other experiments in two principal experiment bases and several other smaller, temporary bases.
- The Central Regional Ordnance Supply Unit provides ordnance to the Central Command, including forces stationed in the West Bank.
- The Sothern Regional Ordnance Supply Unit provides ordnance to the Southern Command.
- The Northern Regional Ordnance Supply Unit provides ordnance to the Northern Command.
As of 2003, the Chief Ordnance Officer is Brigadier General Haim Ronen.
[edit] History
In 1941, the Haganah's Ordnance Department was founded. It engaged in the purchasing, concealment, and transport of war materiel, in cooperation with Israel Military Industries (IMI - created in 1933). It was headed by Asher Peled. In January 1948, the Ordnance Department was renamed into the Ordnance Service. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the service's first "Basic Workshops" were established to help restore and improve vehicles. In 1951, the Engineering Corps was renamed into the Ordnance Corps.
During the Suez War, the crops rescued, collected and restored war materiel. After the war, the first Ordnance Battalion was created. In the War of Attrition, the corps engaged in many rescue attempts. During the Yom Kippur War, the corps was able to restore and bring into service damaged war material (the pace of the restoration proved decisive). During the 1982 Lebanon War, the corps designated two regional ordanance unit within Lebanon, and the Merkava tank, developed under the corps and maunfactured by the IMI, was tested in battle for the first time.
Following the Al-Aqsa Intifada (2000), new defenses were added to Armoured fighting vehicles, and several vehicles underwent upgrades, among these: upper turrets for the Nagmashon, Achzarit, and Centurion tank-chassis Puma; mini-turrets for Markava tanks; further defences to the D9 "Dubi" cage; and the development of the "Scorpion," a Landing Bridge tank converted into a combat engineering tank able to carry a portable pillbox.
[edit] External links
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