The UK's second largest weapons manufacturer. Its German subsidiary MTU makes the engines for Israel's battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, and warships.
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.
*Note: Rolls-Royce Holdings is not the maker of Rolls-Royce cars, which are made by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited, a subsidiary of BMW since 1998.
What Rolls Royce Makes for the Israeli Military
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.
In 2021, Rolls-Royce issued a statement claiming that Super Dvora boats that Israel had sold to Myanmar did not have MTU engines installed in them. The company "is committed to the German government's 'Political Principles' and supports a responsible arms export policy," the statement said.
Production and Sales to Israel
While MTU is based in Germany, the engines it sells to Israel are assembled in the U.S. This enables Israel to receive them as a gift from the U.S. government through its Foreign Military Sales program. However, MTU still manufactures many of their components in Germany.
The following are known U.S. foreign military sales of MTU/Rolls-Royce engines to Israel:
- 2025 - The State Department approved a sale of Eitan 8V199TE21-D powerpack engines and related components, worth $180 million.
- 2019 - The State Department approved the sale of 270 Namer MT-883 engines and related components, worth a total of $238 million.
- 2018 - The Department of Defense awarded MTU a $7.9 million contract to supply engines to the Israeli Navy.
- 2015 - the Department of Defense awarded MTU a $6.8 million contract for engines for the Israeli Navy's Super Dvora boats. Unlike the sales above, the engines were produced in Germany and Sweden, not in the U.S.
Merkava Tanks Used in War Crimes
The Israeli military has been using the Merkava as its exclusive main battle tank for decades, and used it extensively in its 2023-2025 genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. For example, Merkava tanks were part of the January 29, 2024 killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab and her six family members. A 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. For example, Merkava tanks participated in repeated attacks on Shifa Hospital, blockading the entrance and firing on unarmed civilians trying to evacuate in November 2023, and later reportedly firing “nonstop” at the ICU in March 2024. Merkava tanks similarly attacked the Indonesian Hospital and the Kamal Adwan Hospital in November-December 2023. Since hospitals are afforded special protections under international law, these attacks could amount to war crimes.
Before 2023, Israel used Merkava tanks in all of its ground assaults on the Gaza Strip, including the large scale assaults of 2008 and 2014. During Israel's 2014 assault on Gaza, artillery and tank shelling killed at least 81 children, and Merkava tanks were reportedly used to purposefully destroy Palestinian agricultural lands. In 2018, Merkava tanks participated in Israel's "murderous assault against protesting Palestinians" as part of the "Great March of Return" protests in the Gaza Strip. The Merkava Mark 4 , the first to include an MTU engine, was extensively used in the 2006 Lebanon War and became operational two years earlier, during the Second Palestinian Uprising. In February 2025, Israel deployed Merkava tanks in the occupied West Bank for the first time since then.