Posted on 12/05/2004 8:22:19 AM PST by Templar Knight
Merkava (Hebrew for Chariot). The Merkava Mark IV is arguably the finest Main Battle Tank (MBT) in the world. Produced at the Israel Military Industries (IMI) tank production facility at the Tel Hashomer Armoured Corps Base, it improves, by an order of magnitude, upon the Merkava Mark III. The Mark IV entered service with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in February 2004.
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Awesome machine. I am a bit surprised at the lack of side skirting though. A tank with one/no track(s) is a pillbox.
bump
I'm no tank expert, but if I were going to pry it off, it exactly where the wedge would go.
BTTT
Missing in the pictures is a chain ball skirting that is placed all around the turret to trigger RPG's to go off ahead of time. Some of the advantages of design of the Merkav is that the engine is in the front adding a third layer of shell adsorbsion to an anti-tank round. First the shell must penatrate the highly angled front plating, explodes in the engine and behind the engine is the engine compartment firewall armor layer. It is like a free extra layer of armor in the most vunerable spot.
A second feature is the very sharp angle of the turret, where it meets the barrel, it is the same width of the barrel. When the tank is dug in behind a berm or rock all you see from the distance is a barrel hole with no turret sticking up.
The third and fourth advantage's are that since the engine is in front, there is a hatch on the back of the tank for troop access. That allows it to be used as a battlefield ambulance for wounded troops. You can just toss a wounded buddy in the tank to evacuate him. It can also be reloaded while in action on the battle field. The IDF have developed special vehicles to do so. The M1A1 needs to be pulled back to the rear to be reloaded through the top hatches. This keeps tanks on the front lines where you need them, instead of having to recycle them during major attacks.
All in all a very nice tank, with electronic control systems that equal the M1A1 for firing on the roll.
It sure looks that way, but I will bet you that there is something to prevent this in the bottom of that crack. Something they aren't going to tell you about.
Also, it looks to me like the hanging chains visible in picture 3 of post 4 are going to keep RPGs out of that area from behind. when they aren't posing for pictures, they might have something like this in the front too.
i always thought the turret shape looked like a hell of a shot trap but it doesn't seem to bother the IDF though i have seen a lot of them with chain and balls handing down to defeat RPGs the breach loaded 60mm mortar in all of them is outstanding since you don't need to waste main gun rounds on dismounted infantry.
I guess they feel the skirting is necessary in the rear, but not the front. Is a very small spot to hit. Here is a M1A2, another beautiful machine.
The two best tanks in the world.
the chain-ball skirting 'splains a lot. Also, with those better pix I can see that what I thought was rubber skirting is not. I like the M1A2. I like this even better as the slope on the armor is a REAL winner. I am having a hard time conceiving of what type of anti-tank round would be able to dig a hole in that; sharp-edged discarding sabot D.E. maybe? I would imagine that it would just hit and flip off but I could be wrong. The Merkava also doesn't have the turret bustle/long barrel overhang that the Abrahms does. Heck the Germans knew the disadvantages of that clear back before WWII: It doesn't work well in urban warfare. Looks like the Merkava held that lesson. I wonder about the accuracy of the shorter barrel though. Either way, I'd love to have one for commuting into L.A. at least once.
Now that you mention it, I can see the chains hanging down from around the edge of the turret. As stated I'm not really aware of what makes a good tank, so I'll defer to you about it.
The rest seem to be common sense ideas. But isn't that the case in just about any technology or advance in design? As soon as somebody does it, the rest collectively slap a forehead and say "Wow, why didn't *I* think of that?!?
Note that the turret is farther back on the Mercava and forward on the Abrams, that is because of engine placement.
I am not that good on tanks, I just got to listen to an IDF guy rather highly placed discuss them once. I have never been a ground pounder...
Man a MBT would sure solve the parking problem.
Modern tanks need 4 half-tracks, not 2 full-tracks. Lose 1 half-track due to enemy fire or evasive maneuvers and your tank is still mobile on the remaining 3 half-tracks.
...But lose one full track and you are sitting duck in the middle of a battle.
c#17
very interesting idea.
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