Upgraded TAM

[The Dark]

It's still (by modern standards) a light tank. The estimates I've seen are that it's probably about equal to a Marder 1A3 for KE protection, though it'll be better against explosive penetrators, since IMI's Iron Wall emphasizes protection against IEDs and RPGs over KE weapons. There's a thermal sleeve on the 2IP that isn't there on the original TAM, so there may be some changes to the FCS as well.

Note that the TAM 2C and TAM 2IP are not the same upgrade. The 2C added an APU, driver's night vision, an Elbit commanders's sight with thermal imaging and laser rangefinding, gunner's sight with Elbit TIFCS, and a laser warning system. The 2IP is the armor upgrade (though there may be some internal upgrades as well, but I haven't seen mention of them). A tank can supposedly receive either upgrade without receiving the other, so one could have a 2C, a 2IP, or a 2CIP (and I have seen one tank marked as a TAM 2CIP, possibly the demonstrator to prove that the 2C could accept the new upgrade).