Israeli Defence Forces AFV paint set

Israeli Defence Forces AFV paint set

Standard colours of IDF AFVs since 1950s

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were formed in 1948 and since then took part in several conflicts including: 1956 Suez Crisis, 1967 Six-Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War. First heavy AFVs in IDF use were M4 Sherman, AMX-13, Centurion and M48 tanks (initially delivered by West Germany). After the Six-Day War the US became a major supplier of military equipment (including further M48 and M60 tanks, M113 APCs). IDF also operated a large number of equipment captured from the Arab armies (including T-54/55/62 converted to Tiran 4/5/6). Since the beginning of 1980s a locally developed Merkava tank became a major asset of IDF. All above mentioned vehicles wore unique IDF colours, from Olive Drab in early days, through several variants of sand-greys, to the most recent grey-green camo.