The tank Merkava is the battle chariot of Tsakhal

The tanks of Israel, purchased for the Tsakhal (the army of the defense of Israel) abroad, did not fully satisfy the requirements of the military, their design did not take into account many specific features of the Middle East theater of military operations. In 1970, the country's leadership decided to create its own armored vehicles. For the first time in history, the chief of the technical project was not an engineer, but a military man, General Tal, a veteran of all Arab-Israeli conflicts, who knew everything about the problems that tankmen had on the battlefield.

From the very beginning, the designers were based on the exclusively regional application of the new combat vehicle. "Chariot" - so from Hebrew is translated the name, which was given to the Israeli tank "Merkava". It was to be used only in the Middle East, so the requirements for its possible transportation by rail or air transport could be ignored. This allowed to increase the weight of the model, which was, after all, 65 tons.

The second main criterion used by the Jewish tank builders was the maximum safety of the crew. Everything is done so that when a combat vehicle is damaged by enemy fire weapons, it is possible to reduce the probability of detonation of the ammunition and ignition of fuel. To achieve this goal, the Merkava tank received a layout different from the classical one: its power plant was moved from the stern forward (and its weight protects tankmen from frontal damage by armor-piercing shells). Everything has its price! Therefore visibility deteriorated, but this issue was solved in part by means of electronics and optics. The crew sits in the tank and leaves it through the door, located behind, which, again, reduces the vulnerability of people in the event that you need to leave the burning car.

The Merkava tank has serious weapons: a cannon of 120 mm caliber, a mortar from which it is possible to fire, without protruding from the armored hull, powerful machine guns.

The uniqueness of this machine is that it is equipped with a zabornevym compartment, allowing you to carry troops or hide in it the wounded, picked up on the battlefield. Such a design solution has no analogues in the world tank building, it worsens the maneuverability and speed characteristics, but the specificity of the Middle East theater and a special approach to possible combat losses have become the reason for its adoption.

Since 1979, the Merkava tank has been modified four times, and each time eliminated the shortcomings revealed during the fighting. The last variant (Mk 4) is considered to be the most perfect, many technical solutions have been applied in its design, from the simplest and most amazing of its originality, like iron balls on the surface of armor, activating the early initiation of cumulative projectiles, to very complex technical devices. The latter include the warning equipment about the capture of targets by active anti-tank missile guidance systems and the active Trophy defense system that detects and destroys ATGMs. However, against the most conventional anti-tank grenade launchers it is powerless.

The tank Merkava can not be called absolutely invulnerable, there is no such military equipment at all. The main thing that the Israeli designers have achieved is that, with its defeat, the probability of the crew's death is reduced as much as possible.