For years, the Israeli Tavor rifle was marketed as the rifle of the future, and many of the IDF’s infantry fighters proudly carried it, enthusiastic about its convenience and its futuristic look.
However, just 10 years after its integration into the Israeli army, the IDF will soon begin transitioning the infantry brigades that currently use the Tavor and micro-Tavor to the American M4, known as a “flat-top” rifle.
One of the IDF’s infantry brigades is expected to receive the M4 rifle in the near future, followed by the others. The Israeli-made rifles will not be retired completely, rather will be transferred to the army’s reserve brigades.
I went to Israel a few years back. I saw TONS of M16 variants and no Tavors (and there were soldiers everywhere). The definitly never fully swapped over. I love my X95 and my Tavor 7 but the M4 is sooooo cheap and is a great gun to boot.
I suspect it will go. It is fairly expensive and is primarily interesting to gun collectors like me and people who like trying different weapons (also me). It will probably hold out a few years and then disappear.
I’m sure the AR15 will be replaced by some new hotness in the next decade or two, but everything fielded since its adoption has been a giant step backwards.
It is really hard to compete against the M16/M4. It’s design is adaptable. Easy to modify, maintain, and repair. It is difficult to find any competitor that marks a significant improvement or can perform the job substantially better.
Then of course you have its primary strength in today’s market, economy of scale.
There is a significant export market that exists for the Tavor, so I wouldn’t expect that to happen any time soon. So long as they sell enough to justify keeping the production lines running, they’ll keep on making them.
Well the media apparently got it at least partially wrong. I have to say the micro Tavor is really better at something that the AR 15 pattern is not particularly good at—-short barreled reliability.
I think the Tavor suffered the same problem that all the “3rd Generation” assault rifles of the late 90s and early 2000s suffered: They were decent, but just not any major improvement over the rifles they were designed to replace. In that, it suffered the same problem as the SCAR. The AR design has gone from 20 years ago being considered obsolete to now being recognized as ahead of its time.
From what I remember, the decision to adopt the Tavor was one of insider deals, as well as national pride. The Israelis wanted an Israeli designed rifle, and the fact that it’s a bullpup was used as a selling point for being the best close quarters weapon. M4s were WAY less expensive for the Israelis to buy, but they wanted to go with national pride. Of course, as is the case in most countries, the conventional troops went to the bullpup rifle while the special forces opted to stay with the M4.
I have to wonder, with Israel ditching the Tavor and France ditching the FAMAS a couple years ago for the 416, are we starting to see the death of bullpups? I have to wonder if the UK is going to finally give up the L85 soon and go with the M4, C8, or 416.
The AR, in its various forms, has now replaced the FAL as the Right Arm of the Free World.
It’s almost as if the IDF and IWI have some sort of drug deal where the IDF says we have officially adopted XYZ then IWI markets it as “IDF official issue”, then IDF says nevermind, back to the M4.