The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation and Maintenance Center at Tel Hashomer, outside Tel Aviv produces Merkava tanks and other armored vehicles, builds command and control centers, and upgrades other vehicles and communications systems for the army.
In recent days, however, the center’s assembly lines have been converted to help fight the war against Israel’s (and the world’s) No. 1 enemy: coronavirus.
“Similar to the rest of Israel, we understood we are in a war right now against an invisible enemy, and therefore we decided to pitch in to help fight the coronavirus pandemic,” said the center’s commander, Col. Udi Amira
Four days ago, the assembly line for manufacturing tank seats was repurposed to make protective goggles for medical crews.
“Within 12 hours we changed our entire work plan,” said Amira. In recent days the center has produced 1,400 protective goggles per day.
The IDF’s Technical and Logistics Directorate has initiated other such projects around the country as well.
At the vehicle factory in Haifa, for example, one assembly line is refitting ambulances to protect their respective crews against the virus.
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