From the best tanks world to a nightmare called Hamas
Before October 2023 in anyone’s visual impression Israel’s Merkava main battle tanks were giant armored monsters with thick armor capable of well protected and very difficult to destroy.
Its unique design, such as the engine in front of the large tilt of the turret armor, are all proof that the designers paid special attention to to defense capabilities.
Along with the Trophy active defense system installed on the Merkava IV version, additional protection capabilities help it be recognized as the “best” tank in the world. world”.
However, after October this year everything has changed. In the raid called “Aqsa Flood”, Hamas gunmen used four-rotor civilian UAVs carrying SPG-9 anti-tank gun warheads to drop from the air and used RPG-anti-tank grenade launchers. 7 to fire at close range, destroying a significant number of Merkava tanks, shocking the world.
Hezbollah armed forces in Lebanon also use “imitation” anti-tank missiles. Russia’s “Kornet” in the border area with Israel destroyed a large number of Merkava tanks, including both the advanced versions Merkava III and Merkava IV.
It is worth noting that these tanks This Merkava does not take damage when it is at rest but is damaged or destroyed by fire during combat. In other words, the Merkava tank was destroyed by anti-tank weapons in a direct confrontation that cast a shadow on Israel’s main battle tanks.
The media makes ” brand” Merkava
According to Sina in fact the Merkava tank has nothing to do with the “outstanding performance” of the Israeli armored forces. Because they were born relatively late, the first Merkavas only had time to participate in the 5th Middle East War (also known as the 1982 Galilee Peace campaign in Lebanon). The number of participants was extremely limited.
The type of tank that participated a lot in this Israeli war was the Magach tank, which was upgraded based on the M48 and M60 tanks that the US donated.
The combat achievements of Israel Merkava tanks are also very mysterious. Israel believes that Merkava destroyed 9 Syrian T-72 tanks but there is no proof. Not even with the T-55s and T-62s. But the problem is that the war ended with Israel winning and the final battlefield was controlled by Israel.
It is difficult to imagine that the Syrian army – then lost the battle and lost a significant amount of heavy weapons – and spent time recovering his destroyed tanks in a hasty evacuation.
So many international historians believe that what The so-called “myth” that the Merkava destroyed the T-72 like destroying the T-62 or even the T-55 is just building an image for this new Israeli tank.
However, the image of the Merkava I suffering losses in the 5th Middle East War provides clear evidence. The Syrian army’s tank hunting mobile team using Milan anti-tank missiles destroyed the Merkava I tank.
Thus the performance of the Merkava I tank in a conventional conflict appears to be unsatisfactory.
Since the Merkava II version, this family of tanks has actually been used as a special combat vehicle for anti-guerrilla warfare. Compared to other weapons produced by Israel, no Merkava models are exported.
According to the customer profile, it is limited to the Israeli Army, so the production quantity is also very low, with only one or two hundred vehicles per version.
Starting from the Merkava III version, the 120mm smoothbore gun has replaced the 105mm twist gun as the main weapon. The fire control system with stabilization on two planes also replaced the previous simple fire control system to keep up with world trends.
Along with a fairly modern appearance Merkava giving people the visual impression of an “advanced main battle tank”. In addition, Israel’s communication skills are always very skillful. They emphasized the Merkava’s front engine design as “valuing the lives of the crew” and were praised by Western media, making it easy for people to mistakenly think it was a Merkava. is “undefeated”.
The “illusion” of The fall of Merkava
The illusion of Merkava collapsed at the beginning of 2002 when the Merkava III tank was damaged in the first battle.
At that time, the forces Hamas armed forces used the tactic of planting roadside bombs (IEDs) to destroy an Israeli army Merkava III and only 1 of the 4 crew members survived but his legs were amputated. At this time Merkava IV has just been put into use but is only a test version
During the campaign against Hezbollah in 2006 both Merkava III and Merkava IV were recorded as being destroyed by Hezbollah using anti-tank missiles that “imitate” the US TOW missiles produced by Iran, some were even destroyed by Hezbollah with RPG-7 grenade launchers using concave penetrating warheads.
Furthermore in practice In combat, people found that the reason the Merkava series placed the engine in the front of the vehicle was actually because they were worried about the thin front composite armor, so they had to arrange the engine in the front to bring a sense of security to the occupants. vehicle.
But the problem is that the front-mounted engine also means the engine is easily destroyed. Once this situation occurs the tank will no longer be able to fight.
The front engine itself is not unusual and many light tanks and armored fighting vehicles also use this method. this layout. However, with the Merkava as a 60-ton main battle tank, the application of this design is “a bit strange”.
The arrangement of the engine in the front also reveals some weaknesses. It’s like the car is out of balance compared to the rear arrangement; large infrared signatures and a taller body.
The Merkava’s Sweatshirt explosive reactive armor consists of a multi-layer structure made from thin metal plates and then fiberglass plates linked by rubber mixed with plastic explosives inside.
If you encounter a jet penetrating weapon such as an explosive bullet, the explosive in the rubber will explode, causing the thin metal plate to be thrown away. deviate from the flow. In theory, it also has a certain effect on armor-piercing bullets.
However, the Sweatshirt’s effectiveness in reality was much worse in the conflict with Hezbollah in 2006 with anti-tank missiles using warheads. At the same time, it still punctured the body of the Merkava” III/IV vehicle and destroyed it.
In the recent “Aqsa Flood” raid, Hamas used a 4-rotor UAV to drop RPG warheads -7 from above to the top of the turret, damaging the vehicle and causing the combat crew to abandon the vehicle and retreat.
Hamas forces used 73mm SPG-9 conventional guns and RPG-grenade launchers. 7 uses homemade parallel armor-piercing bullets that can pierce the body of Merkava III and Merkava IV vehicles.
Even improved AT-3 anti-tank missile bullets (using parallel armor-piercing warheads ) can also destroy the Merkava IV turret from the side. The Trophy active protection system has difficulty intercepting armor-piercing bullets of the DKZ SPG-9 and may not be able to intercept RPG-7 bullets even within a range of 50m.
In other words, the Trophy active defense system is the “standard configuration” of new generation tanks that cannot guarantee safety against the most common infantry anti-tank weapons of the time. At present, this will have a negative impact on the future.
This will certainly be a strong blow to one of Israel’s key products in the commercial market military national
Faced with risks, Israel also began to learn from Russia’s approach in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, adding a “roof”-style cage armor plate above the tank’s turret. Merkava to counter anti-tank weapons can be dropped from four-rotor UAVs.
Interestingly, when Russia first used “helmets” on the roofs of tanks, they were attacked by a Some “military experts” in the West are ironic. However, as the war in Ukraine continued, the Kiev armed forces quickly learned to wear “iron helmets” for their tanks and armored vehicles.
New Merkava tank family The newest member, Merkava V (also known as Barak, meaning Lightning), appeared in September 2023. The Israeli Ministry of Defense claims it is Israel’s fourth generation main battle tank. If you look at the appearance, there is not much difference between the Merkava V and the improved Merkava IV.
The Israeli army claims that the fire control system of the Merkava V is more advanced and has integrated glass virtual reality (VR) sights into the fire control system, so observing and aiming at targets can be done through VR glasses mounted on working helmets and at the same time, battlefield information exchange can be carried out according to real-time with other manned and unmanned platforms…
The Israeli army plans to deliver the first Merkava Vs to the Sinbat Tank Brigade in 2025.< /p>
But it must be said that Israel’s tank force is very small, a tank battalion with only two combat-ready companies and a reserve company with a total of 20 vehicles. In particular, the M60s upgraded to the Magach version are deployed as reserve tank companies.
The total number of Merkava III/IV tanks in operation is only 600 (460 Merkava IVs and 140 Merkava IIID) plus less than 300 Magach 7s. A number of less than 1,000 tanks is simply not enough to fight on high-intensity battlefields such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The War Although Israel’s advance into the Gaza Strip is achieving certain results, according to many sources, since the conflict broke out on October 7, about 50 Israeli Merkava tanks have been destroyed.“
