Israeli Tanks in WWIII: Team Yankee

Israeli Tanks in WWIII: Team Yankee By Garry Wait Welcome to Armour Officers training school, Shizafon. Alright, I know you think that you have a good knowledge of the armoured chariots we use here in the Israeli Defence Force, but here you will learn how to manage and fight with the oldest and the newest vehicles in our inventory.

Many of you have uncles and parents – and even grandparents – who served on some of these vehicles in the past. Let me tell you right now that the Shot or Magach they knew are nothing like what we have now. So don’t be confused by previous wars for the Fate of a Nation. These vehicles in many cases are the cutting edge of what they could be, thanks to intensive development by our friends in Israel Military Industries, the makers – and in some cases, remakers – of our armoured fist.

In our curriculum we will look at five Main Battle Tanks. These range from the lowly Magach 6, the improved Sho’t, the groundbreaking Merkava 1 and Merkava 2 and the top “chariot”, our secret weapon – the Merkava 3.

Magach 6 Starting with the Magach 6, you could be forgiven for thinking you are commanding the same M60 tank that our friends in the USA shipped in during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our new – or should I say rebuilt – Magach 6 tanks are a smooth ride and a massive improvement over the basic M60 model that the US produced in the late 1960’s. Featuring the tried and true M68 105mm gun like the original models had, you will note we have improved ammunition in the form of M111 Hetz APFSDS ammunition, souped up after our recent adventures in Lebanon where we saw firsthand the Soviet T72. This gives us AT19 ability, much better than those poor fellows in Iran have with their very basic unimproved M60A1’s. Infrared night fighting gear and an extra machine gun or two helps differentiate the newer Magach 6 from the older Magach models, but what really stands out is the top secret Blazer armour.

Explosive Reactive Armour or ERA for short, gives this tank a fantastic edge. Most of you will be grateful that it means we can largely ignore incoming Sagger missiles and even exported US Dragon 1 missiles. But best of all? You are almost guaranteed to shrug off a hailstorm of RPG7 rockets when battling those Syrian or Iranian footsloggers.

This makes the Magach 6 a terror in a wonderful way. I would suggest that this is a brilliant assault vehicle for clearing infantry off an area of interest to our forces. It’s very capable in antitank warfare but lacking stabilisers and laser rangefinders like the rest of our fleet, is not as powerful at ranged fire or mobile actions. Stocks of HESH and similar high explosive ammunition make this vehicle a cheap and effective way of shifting enemy infantry from dug in positions too.

The Sho't The Sho’t on the other hand, has been updated considerably further from its origins in the World War II designed British Centurion. It shares the same gun as the Magach 6 so I won’t repeat it’s abilities. Some of the improvements over the original vehicle include Better ammunition and main gun Better armour, both in steel and coming standard with the latest ERA like the improved Magach 6’s noted above. More machineguns to keep away enemy missile or RPG teams Infrared night fighting Improved engines supplied from our friends in the USA Stabilisation which although not as advanced as on the later Merkava models, is still very helpful to give you that little bit more movement when it matters

Much like the Magach 6 improved model, the Sho’t has fantastic cross-country mobility with a cross check of 2+ and excellent armour to shrug off almost any manpacked unguided weapon system. This makes it brutal, like it’s contemporary Magach models. Sho’t are a good and capable weapon for moving enemy infantry and static antitank operations, due to older less capable stabilisers. They do have a better remount ability due to the better ammunition stowage and less use of flammable hydraulic fluid in the turret.

Merkava I Next, the brainchild of General Israel Tal, the Merkava 1. A brilliant and homemade addition to the Armoured Corps, the Merkava 1 gives excellent mobile firepower, having a rate of fire of two shots on the move using the same M68 105mm gun and improved armour to better absorb hits frontally from enemy tanks. The side armour is less capable versus the plentiful HEAT ammunition fired from missiles and RPG’s, having only bazooka skirts. Overall a massive step up from the Magach and a definite improvement over the Sho’t. The other main improvement is in the area of crew survivability. A bail result will be fixed on a 2+ roll, compared to 3+ for the older Magach tanks, owing partly to better crew confidence and far better ammunition stowage and vehicle configuration. I strongly recommend you do NOT use the Merkava 1 for assaulting enemy infantry with its thinner and less efficient side armour compared to the Sho’t or Magach 6 with Blazer ERA.

Merkava 2 The slightly newer Merkava 2 model has much the same features as the Merkava 1, with slightly thicker frontal armour but far better side armour, utilising spaced armour to better protect against RPG’s. This was a hard learned lesson from the streets of Beirut and is worth considering when looking at what is largely a similar vehicle. I still recommend extreme caution when assaulting enemy infantry with effective weapons like the RPG7, leave it to the Sho’t or Magach crews to assault! The advantages of the Merkava models 1 and 2 tend to be far more flexibility in firepower, being able to apply a fast rate of fire efficiently and at higher speeds than the Magach or Sho’t. They also excel at clearing enemy infantry albeit in a higher cost in Israeli Shekels.

Merkava 3 And now we come to the latest shining example of Israeli ingenuity, the Merkava 3. I know some of you have nicknamed it the Starship for its futuristic look and “flying” feel when moving at speed cross country. It’s not too far off the mark to label this futuristic fighting machine this way. The appearance isn’t the only thing futuristic about this beast of war. The ”Chariot” as its name is translated into Englsh is a truly wonderful creation, having the best frontal armour in the world for its time, even edging out the British Challenger, US Abrams and West German Leopard II. Front armour 23 will laugh off the toughest enemy tanks and missiles. But that isn’t the end of the improvements in protection. Now we are using Chobham inserts for our armour, the side has improved also, from 7 for the Merkava 2 versus autocannons and solid shot to 10 in the Merkava 3, although the biggest improvement is going from the Merkava 2’s 13 versus HEAT to 16 versus HEAT on the Merkava 3. With the new 120mm smoothbore main gun, we are able to boost our antitank from AT19 to AT22, a huge improvement I’m sure you will agree. Not only that, having thermal imaging means we will own the night in the Middle East. With firecontrols and improvements in stabilisation, we can now push our tanks effortlessly to move 14”/35cm while firing the main gun. As usual we have 0.50” and 7.62mm machineguns available to scare away enemy infantry. However the improvements in Chobham technology in this latest tank means you can assault enemy infantry with ease.

For your benefit I have provided a quick reference table below with some suggestions for the junior armoured officer to consider how best to use the tools available.

Tank Front Armour Side Armour Gun Mobility Best use? Magach 6 15/16 8/16 AT19 10/24 Assaulting enemy infantry, stationary shooting of main gun at close ranges Sho’t 14 6/16 AT19 10/18 Long range antitank, clearing enemy infantry in assaults Merkava 1 18 6/10 AT19 10/24 Anti tank generally, high mobility fighting, Anti infantry fire Merkava 2 19/ 7/13 AT19 10/24 Anti tank generally, high mobility fighting, Anti infantry fire Merkava 3 23/10 10/16 AT22 14/28 High Antitank warfare, high mobility fighting

The table above has two factors for armour for the Magach being with and without ERA on front and side armours. Two numbers are given for mobility in inches, being tactical speed or top (dash) speed I hope this gives you gentlemen food for thought and I look forward to hearing your feedback on how this powerful arsenal of heavy metal performs in the future on your battlefields.

~ Garry