On 15 February 2005, Maariv reported that a Namer prototype based on the Merkava Mark I was fielded by the Givati Brigade for trials and evaluation.

On 1 March 2008, the IDF officially presented a Namer IFV that was operational, fully-developed, and built ab initio based on the Merkava Mark IV chassis.

The decision resulted partly as a response to the death of seven Golani Brigade soldiers, who were killed by an RPG in Gaza while riding a Vietnam War-era M113 whose engine stalled in the middle of the battlefield.

[18] At the end of 2016, the IDF Combat Engineering Corps started to operate the Namer CEV (Hebrew: נמ"ר הנדסי – נמר"ה).

The Namer CEV is equipped with the Trophy active protection system[19] and engineering devices, such as: mine rollers, bulldozer blades, and anti-mine CARPET rockets.

[22] On 12 December 2018, the Israeli Defense ministry released a further video of the Namer IFV that showed it launching two Spike-MR missiles from a pod which can be erected from and lowered flush into the turret roof.

A defense ministry spokesperson explained that the installation “will enable IDF soldiers to fire missiles from within the vehicles, while they are still protected, which will significantly increase the attack range of the vehicles.” The automated launch pod will also be fitted to the turret of the Eitan AFV.

[23] Namer is capable of maneuvering in difficult terrain, powered by the Teledyne Continental AVDS-1790-9AR 1,200 hp (895 kW) V12 air-cooled diesel engine of the Merkava Mark III.

Namer also shares a digital battlefield management system with Merkava Mark IV, giving it hunter-killer team capabilities.

Combat engineering Namers are equipped with the Trophy APS, and would endow brigade-level teams with capabilities they never had before to handle tunnels, bridge obstacles, and maneuver in high-threat areas.

[clarification needed] As a result of its success on the battlefield, there were calls for the number of vehicles to be increased (beyond the 170 on order), and for them to gradually replace the many M113s currently fielded by IDF combat units.

[29] On June 24, 2024, Al-Qassam Brigades published footage of its forces attacking a Namer using a Chinese HJ-8 ATGM, hitting the vehicle, causing an external fire on the carry-on CARPET demining system.