Iran builds Merkava MBT

the isrealis have never lost a tank to enemy action - and besides if the iranians did have it - what would one unit in hezzbolla hands achieve ???

In fact even the mighty Merkava III has fallen to the IED:

"Sabah was considered an "operations officer" for Samhadna and regarded as responsible for land mine attacks on three Merkava tanks this year, in which seven soldiers were killed. Each attack involved large bombs, weighing in the range of 60-100 kilos, hidden underground, and set to explode when a tank passed over them. "
www.haaretzdaily.com...

" IDF officers on Friday downplayed the fact that the Palestinians had succeeded in penetrating Israel's state-of-the-art Merkava 3, but the army, clearly concerned, continued to investigate how the world’s most protected tank had been penetrated, after three soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip on Thursday when a large bomb was detonated under their tank."

-snip-

"The Merkava 3 - the third generation in a line of tanks which has been specifically designed to meet the operational demands of the IDF - is considered to be the most protected tank around. The last time a crewmember was killed in a Merkava was in southern Lebanon about five-and-a-half years ago, when the tank was hit by an anti-tank missile.

Israel Radio reported that in Thursday's attack, the tank's turret was blown off, landing several meters away, and that the blast gouged a 1.5-meter hole in the ground."
www.haaretzdaily.com...

Originally posted by Karmakaze

the isrealis have never lost a tank to enemy action - and besides if the iranians did have it - what would one unit in hezzbolla hands achieve ???

In fact even the mighty Merkava III has fallen to the IED:

apologies - i meant in context of this thread

i should have said " the IDF have not suffered a mekerva captured by enemy forces "

i was attempting to illustrate that the iranians would have had nothing of conseqience to reverse engineer from merkeva - as all units have reamained in IDF hands

and open source literature would only give profiles and dimrnsions

which would alllow a training target to be made , as i said - and as 2 others said too

i should have said " the IDF have not suffered a mekerva captured by enemy forces "

I re-read your original post and although I can see why I got it wrong, I can also see that this is what you meant.

You're right, I have no doubt that this would be nothing more than a target mockup - after all if Iran DID have a Merkava clone, why the hell would they give it to Hizbollah?

In fact reading the quote in the original post makes this clear:

"a mockup of an Israel Merkava"

A Mockup is a non functional yet full size model used for demonstration or training purposes. So The original poster did not read the article correctly and has made an error leading to the idea that this is somehow a working MBT, and not just a display model.

Originally posted by Karmakaze
after all if Iran DID have a Merkava clone, why the hell would they give it to Hizbollah?

Simple, They don't want to be accused of copying the MBT of a nation they do not recognize. Hizbollah could simply claim they have captured a few.

Originally posted by Karmakaze
In fact reading the quote in the original post makes this clear:

"a mockup of an Israel Merkava"

Intelligence watchers report it is an exact replica of the real thing.

Originally posted by Karmakaze
You're right, I have no doubt that this would be nothing more than a target mockup

I believe it was a merkava-like mockup picked on sat, but yet there is no chance of distinguising between a mockup and a real thing unless you see it working (in action).

And yet, no one seems to have answered my question.

Why do they need an exact copy of the thing for TARGET practice, considering the cost, and time needed to manufacture one of those, unless Iranians have a production line, mass producing Merkava. Not to mention, if they are testing the capabilties of the new anti-tank missile, the Merkava-like mockup has to be as good as the real thing.

AND Why on earth do they need to smuggle a TANK (or whatever you'd like to call it) into Lebanon? what if they get caught? They are under intense international pressure to stop their nuke program, I believe. This has to be worth the risk.


RESPECT

I believe it was a merkava-like mockup picked on sat, but yet there is no chance of distinguising between a mockup and a real thing unless you see it working (in action).

And yet, no one seems to have answered my question.

Why do they need an exact copy of the thing for TARGET practice, considering the cost, and time needed to manufacture one of those, unless Iranians have a production line, mass producing Merkava. Not to mention, if they are testing the capabilties of the new anti-tank missile, the Merkava-like mockup has to be as good as the real thing.

AND Why on earth do they need to smuggle a TANK (or whatever you'd like to call it) into Lebanon? what if they get caught? They are under intense international pressure to stop their nuke program, I believe. This has to be worth the risk.

RESPECT

Actually a mockup can be a visually exact replica and yet be nothing more than wood and canvas which, when disassembled could fit on a truck. Car companies make mockups of new designs all the time, and they are made out of clay - when finished you would never know it wasnt a real car.

The point is, the report says it is a mockup NOT a working tank. Mockups are used for training - for example showing weak points, or limitations of field of view - not combat (although mockups can and have been used in combat as decoys, but that is another story)