Since last Saturday, in the wake of Hamas carrying out its military operation that affected 11 Israeli camps and 20 settlements around the Gaza Strip, video clips have spread, showing this tank, which has a price of about 7 million dollars and is considered the most fortified in the world and the strongest on the battlefield, according to military reports, It caught fire after old ammunition was dropped from a helicopter next to it. Flames also rushed from a door at the back of the tank to a distance of no less than 10 metres, and only one member of its crew survived.
What also highlights this tank is that, according to estimates by experts on the Sky News Arabia website, this tank, and with what is being circulated about the Israeli army’s preparations for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, will be in all its versions, especially the newest version nicknamed “Barak” which entered service. The year 2023, at the forefront of the Israeli military equipment participating in this invasion.
What are Merkava’s strengths?
The Merkava, which Israel began manufacturing in 1983, came in 4 successive versions: “Merkava 1,” “Merkava 2,” “Merkava 3,” and “Merkava 4.” Its development began in the early 1990s, and the fourth model was produced in 2002 and delivered. The first actual production was for the Israeli army in 2004, and it was used in the Second Intifada, the 2006 Lebanon War, and the 2008-2009 Gaza War.
The National Interest military magazine says that the Israeli tank is the main battle tank of the Israeli army, as Tel Aviv has sought over the past years to make the Merkava one of the best main battle tanks in the world.
According to military reports, Israel considers tanks to be one of the most important military weapons in ground confrontations. Because of this, it was keen to design the latest models and put it in the “Merkava 4” or “Barak tank” and called it “the tank of the 21st century,” and its cost was estimated at about 6 million US dollars. Each tank, and among the strengths that characterize the enhanced versions of that tank, are the following:
- Defensive systems and systems to detect threats, in addition to the advanced OFEC communications system, which makes the crew benefit from various other monitoring systems from the air and sea.
- X-ray detection system to detect pedestrians inside facilities.
- It is distinguished by being the first tank in the world to contain an advanced artificial intelligence system that manages tank tasks, which reduces the workload on the crew and helps in identifying targets with great accuracy. The artificial intelligence system has been integrated with the battlefield management system.
- Weight: The Merkava 4 weighs about 62 tons.
- Power: 1500 hp.
- Transmission: 5-speed automatic of the very advanced second generation.
- It has a 105 mm main gun equipped with 62 shells, which means the tank is able to continue fighting for long periods even when it is present on a battlefield suffering from a lack of ammunition supplies.
- The main gun is linked to a 7.62 mm rotating machine gun, in addition to an additional gun of the same caliber or 12.7 mm, which enables it to engage a wide range of targets from tanks to armored vehicles and lightly armored vehicles.
- It has a protection system known as “Trophy Active Protection” that contributes to giving the tank the ability to confront and destroy anti-tank missiles that target it. It is a protection system that was designed in Israel.
- It includes an advanced fire control system, consisting of a laser rangefinder and thermal imaging, in addition to a computerized targeting system, which allows the crew to engage the target accurately and quickly, even in low-light or obscured conditions, in addition to 4 updated sensors that give the tank the ability to see virtual reality. With the possibility of installing mine rollers in the front of its hull.
What are the weak points of the Israeli tank?
The Russian magazine “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” says that Israeli experts previously spoke about special measures taken to protect the tank’s ammunition stock, including the use of a fire extinguishing system and suppression of explosions. While in reality it turns out that what is operated successfully in the experimental fields does not work in real combat, and there are doubts about the effectiveness of the active protection system in the “Merkava”, and among the shortcomings of that tank, according to military reports, is the “Trophy Active Protection” system, because Following:
- It can be hunted from a distance of less than 50 meters, especially with RPG shells, as this distance is beyond the capabilities of this system, and its presence ensures that the shell arrives faster than the reaction of that tank.
- “You can’t handle a pitcher.” Spg-9“Because they are munitions that fire faster than 340 meters per second, while the maximum speed of targets that the “Trophy” system deals with in that tank is about 340 meters per second.
- Exploiting the presence of temporary soldiers near the system to fire a shell at the target to activate it, because the “Trophy” fires a fragmentation shell towards the anti-armor shell heading for the tank, and if there are friendly forces near the tank, this will be like a fragmentation bomb exploding on the Israeli soldiers.
- This system’s radars do not cover residential areas efficiently.
Are you participating in the ground invasion in Gaza?
Russian military expert Vladimir Igor told Sky News Arabia that the Merkava tank started with an American engine, and although Israel introduced developments to it, its large weight, which reaches 65 tons, slows down its movement on the battlefield.
Scenes of its burning during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation with a primitive shell are evidence of its weak capabilities and armor.
This was preceded by destruction operations of the Merkava carried out by the Palestinian resistance, in mid-February 2002, in September of the same year, in the aggression on the Gaza Strip in 2008, and in March 2020.
- In the summer of 2006, during the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Wadi Al-Hujair was a cemetery for that tank, many of which were captured.
- Israel’s exaggeration of this tank’s capabilities is only propaganda, but on the battlefield, its large weight represents an additional burden to its shortcomings.
In the event of the expected ground invasion of Gaza, Igor says: “During the expected street battles between Hamas fighters and the Israeli army, that tank will be hunted with mortar shells, mines and unguided shells and its danger will be neutralized.”
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