"Rolls-Royce Holdings. The UK's second largest weapons manufacturer. Its German subsidiary MTU makes the engines for Israel's battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, and warships" 3 June 2025

'Rolls-Royce Holdings plc* is the world's 22nd largest weapons manufacturer as of 2023. Its German subsidiary Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG (formerly known as Tognum AG) owns the engine manufacturer MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH...

MTU's MT-883 engine powers Israel's Merkava battle tank (marks 4 and 5) as well as the Namer armored personnel carrier. The engine is the most significant component of the Merkava that is made outside of Israel. Read below how the Merkava tank has been used to perpetuate war crimes.

Rolls Royce also powers the Israeli Eitan armored fighting vehicle. Rolls-Royce is the prime contractor for the Eitan's 8V199TE21-D power-pack, which includes an MTU-6V890 engine and an Allison 4800 Specialty Series transmission.

In addition, MTU makes most of the engines for the Israeli Navy, powering some 80% of its boats according to one 2015 estimate. Specifically, the Israeli-made Super Dvora and Shaldag patrol boats use MTU engines. These boats form the bulk of the Israeli Navy's patrol units, which are in charge, among carrying out other missions, of enforcing the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip....

While MTU is based in Germany, the engines it sells to Israel are assembled in the U.S. by its subsidiary Rolls-Royce Solutions America in Novi, Michigan. This factory was previously known as MTU America and before that as Tognum America. Assembly in the U.S. enables Israel to receive these engines as a gift from the U.S. government through its Foreign Military Sales program. However, MTU still manufactures most of the engine components in Germany...

The Israeli military has been using the Merkava as its exclusive main battle tank for decades, and used it extensively in the 2023-2025 Gaza genocide. Merkava tanks were part of the January 2024 killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab and her family. Tank-mounted machine guns fired on the Rajab family vehicle, and a 120mm tank round was found in the remains of the ambulance crew that attempted to rescue her. Merkava tanks also took part in a June 3, 2025 incident, in which the Israeli military killed 27 Palestinians as they were waiting for food at a "humanitarian" distribution point. In addition, Merkava tanks were reportedly used to "deliberately run over dozens of Palestinian civilians alive" and to destroy civilian property in multiple separate incidents during 2023-2024.

Merkava tanks were also used in Israel's systematic attacks on Gaza's hospitals...