Weapons 101 - Merkava MBT

The Merkava - Israeli Main battle tank (MBT).

Israel made the decision in August of 1970 to develop and build a new MBT. Until that time, Israel could not equip its armored corps with new tanks due to the continuous refusal of all nations to sell modern tanks to them including the USA.

The need to introduce modern tanks to the Israeli Army became acute when Israel faced a tremendous build-up of hostile military formations beyond its borders, equipped with the best weapon systems of that era including modern tanks and anti - tank systems. The decision to develop the Israeli tank named MERKAVA ecame inevitable.

The Israeli development team led by General Israel Tal, integrated state-of-the-art technology with lessons of war in the concept and the design of the Merkava and all its future generations:

The first Merkava tanks, Merkava Mk1, were fielded in April 1979. Those tanks took part in actual operations during the Peace for Galilee War and proved themselves to be more effective than all other tanks in the theatre.

The second generation, Merkava Mk. 2, was first delivered in 1984.

The Third generation, Merkava Mk.3, was introduced in 1990 and became the backbone of the Israeli Armor Corp. An advanced version of Merkava Mk. 3, with an improved Fire-Control System was fielded in 1995.
As of mid-2000, the next generation, Merkava Mk. 4, is on the way and was undergoing field tests.

During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israeli armor suffered heavy losses from Egyptian and Syrian wire-guided anti-tank missiles. The high casualty rate spurred the IDF, which had previously depended on US-made Patton and Sherman tanks and British Centurion tanks, to develop the Merkava (Heb., chariot), considered one of the world's most effective and safest battle tanks.

Development of the Merkava was headed by Gen. Israel Tal, a former Armored Corps commander. Tal's team sought to design a tank that provided maximum protection to the tanks crew. One element of that defense is the placement of the tank's engine at the front of the vehicle, where it serves as a shield for the personnel compartment. This in turn provided more space in the vehicle's rear, which can be used to carry up to six extra soldiers. In addition, a special "canopy" protects the commander from indirect fire; the turret and the hull are fitted with a modular armor system that can be changed in the field; and the forward section of the turret is fitted with additional blocks of armor that provide extra protection against the latest generation of anti-tank missiles. A "skirt" of chains with ball weights is attached to the lower half of the turret, causing incoming projectiles to detonate on impact with the chains instead of penetrating the turret ring.

The tank became operative in 1979, and was first employed in the 1982 Operation "Peace for Galilee". The Mark I model was succeeded by the Mark II in 1983, which was replaced by the Mark III in 1990. Among the features of the Mark III are a new suspension system, a 1200-horsepower engine and new transmission, a more powerful main gun, and ballistic protection provided by special armor modules. The main 120-mm gun, developed by Israel Military Industries, is enclosed in a thermal sleeve that increases accuracy by preventing heat distortion.

Mark II and Mark III tanks are currently in service in the IDF; a Mark IV model, with additional safety and fire-control features, is currently being developed. It will include a new compressed-gas recoil system and thermal sleeve for the 120-mm gun, to enable the firing of enhanced kinetic energy ammunition. With the exception of the engine, all systems and assemblies of the Merkava tanks are of Israeli design and manufacture.

The Merkava is the innovative Israeli design of Major General Israel Tal. The primary design criteria was crew survivability. Every part of the overall design is expected to contribute to helping the crew survive. The engine is in the front to provide protection to the crew. There is a special protective umbrella for the tank commander to enable protection from indirect fire with the hatches open. Special "spaced armor" is in use along with protected fuel and ammo compartments. Rear ammunition stowage is combined with a rear entrance and exit. Since the rounds are stowed in containers that can be removed from the vehicle whenever necessary, this space can accommodate tank crewmen who have been forced to abandon their vehicles, or, if thought to be appropriate, even infantrymen. Rear ammunition stowage allows replenishment much more easily than if rounds have to be replaced in a carousel in the hull center, as in typical Russian vehicles.

Tank soldiers have long admired Merkava's rear entrance and exit, recognizing that it would allow them to mount and dismount unobserved by the enemy and would provide an excellent alternative escape route.

The Merkava can also carry a small Infantry squad internally under complete armored protection.

What a machine!

Military projects is the place for these..



Really..



And anyhow i like this better:

SABRA MAIN BATTLE TANK, ISRAEL

The Sabra Main Battle Tank is a modernised upgraded M60A3, developed by Israel Military Industries Slavin heavy weapons plant at Ramat Hasharon. As with all upgrade programs the scope of a Sabra upgrade package is customised to meet a particular country's operational requirements. 170 Turkish Army M60 tanks are to be upgraded with the Sabra Mk II package. The first protype is planned for delivery in 2006.

ARMAMENT

The Sabra's main armament is a 120mm smooth bore gun which is similar to the gun developed by Israel Military Industries (formerly TAAS) for the Merkava Mark 3 main battle tank. The gun is fitted with a fume extractor and a thermal sleeve for reduction of wear and to maximise the first round hit probability by reducing thermally induced distortion of the barrel. Stowage is provided for 42 rounds of ammunition. The gun has greater range and armour penetrating capability than the 105mm gun installed on the M60 MBT. The gun is capable of firing NATO standard 120mm smooth bore ammunition including Armour Piercing Fin-Stabilised Discarding Sabot (APFSDS) rounds.

The co-axial machine gun is either 7.62mm or 5.56mm. The 60mm mortar system is supplied by Soltam Ltd based in Haifa.

PROTECTION

The Sabra is equipped with an automatic fire and explosion suppression system, a threat warning system and smoke grenade launchers. The tank is fitted with modular passive armour protection, which is upgraded to explosive reactive armour in the Sabra Mk II.

FIRE CONTROL AND OBSERVATION

The hybrid turret and gun control system consists of an hydraulic elevation drive and an electric traverse drive. The tank is equipped with a Knight computerised fire control system supplied by El-Op (Electro-Optics) Industries Ltd of Rehovot and and Elbit Systems of Haifa. The fire control system is integrated into the turret control and actively controls the turret dynamics. The line of sight stabilisation in elevation and azimuth provides high hit probability for stationary and on the move engagements against stationary and moving targets. The system has four modes of operation : stabilised mode with the gun axis slaved to the line of sight, slaved mode where the gunner's line of sight is slaved to the gun axis, a non stabilised mode and back-up mode with manual operation for emergency use.

The gun can be layed and fired by the gunner or the commander. The gunner's station is equipped with a periscopic x8 magnification day sight and x5.3 magnification night sight supplied by El-Op. The sight is stabilised in two axes. The eyesafe Nd:YAG laser rangefinder operates over a range typically 200m to 9,995m with an accuracy of +/- 5m.

PROPULSION

The Sabra engine is the air-cooled AVDS-1790-5A four stroke diesel engine by General Dynamics, developing 908hp at 2,400rpm, which represents a gross power to combat weight ratio of 16.5hp/t.

The running gear has been upgraded for cross country mobility and features six road wheels per side, trailing arm suspension, torsion bar springs, piston dampers, three per side piston bumpers and single pin steel tracks.

The Sabra provides a maximum road speed of 48km/h and accelerates from 0km/h to 32km/h in 9.6 seconds. The range on hard level ground is 450km. The tank can negotiate slopes of gradient 60%, side slopes 30%, 2.60m trenches, and 0.91m obstacle height. The fording depth without preparation is 1.40m and with preparation 2.40m.






This is the Sabra MBT (that was US M60).



But i do know that the Merkava (Chariot) is much better..

But this Sabra looks cool and is the best M60 variant around..
(most likely better that any M1 or T-55/62/72)



[Edited on 6-10-2003 by FULCRUM]

killing people is cool
tanks are cool
bombs are cool
jesus would love this stuff
let's kill all the #ing peaceniks first

Wasn't quite sure where to put this actually as its a piece of equipment and not really a program but is still a gov program(if that makes sense).

Oh well, i still like the Merkava but the Sabra is also a formidable foe.

but that's beside the fact that this is basically an advertisement for carlyle and other people who depend on the cash that is made on the situation between palestine and their intifada with israel.

not trying to give you a guilt trip. hell no.
just trying to open your eyes a bit. this is propaganda. plain and simple.

"russian t-90's could tear these apart"

That is true..

T-90 has better main gun..

And is smaller target..

And is more agile..



But as you can see from the photos..

SABRA also has good gun, and it armor is way supperior..
(From the looks of it it has well spaced armor.. unlike T-90..)



Btw,

Nerdling..

'Weapons 101'?

Whats that?

....which turns armor plate into a self catylyzing acidic dissolution.
Now that would be useful hey.
Just melt all of the politicians toys,and see how much # they have to talk then..

russian t-90's could tear these apart

Hard to get one of these bad boys started without FUEL.

Russian Army? A joke.Intelligence found out that during the cold war they didn't even have enough fuel to move their tanks 10 meters.

And 3 squares a day for soldiers? Better forget it.

Pay? Wishful at best.

Morale? You do the math.

Deny Ignorace!



If it would be up to me..

You would have already gotten a BAN to ATS..

Posting shyte and lies like that..



Cold war was very different than you claim here..

If Soviets would have attacked US and NATO..

Only way to US and NATO to survive would have been a massive use of nukes..

Tactical nukes..

Cause in the terms of conventional capability and power west was not anykind of match against USSR..

West would have been quickly overrun and freedom lost..

However..

This and your frocked up lies arent the topic of discussion here..

It is ISRAELI armor and Merkava series..

In one wargame simulation, it was found (using a very accurate model) that NATO forces eventually defeated the Warsaw Pact armies... after having been pushed back through France and having suffered 80% casualties. The model was good, they just ran the simulation leaving out morale effects. No NATO commander could continue fighting with 80% casualties.

FULCRUM, you talk about using tactical nukes. Yeah, that's true, but just think what else NATO had up its sleeve that we still don't know about (and Warsaw Pact, too). Also, another problem was that human commanders in all the wargames refused to use strategic nukes - they had to replace them with computer players to get a nuclear war running. I don't know about tactical nukes, though.