>>> Play War Thunder for FREE! Support my channel and get a premium aircraft, tank or ship and a three day account upgrade as a BONUS: gjn.link/RedEffectWarThunder Also available for free on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One.
I think if it keeps the same design but uses modern armour it would be a lot better but as is i love it I like the door in the back and the ability to shoot mortars it's a true multi purpose tank... and the ifv version namir i think is great too
Tim-Turner Jericho yes I agree it could be effective but I feel it needs new A design and new Armour along with its lower glacies needing to be more angled and the engine idea is no longer effective now a days due to heat and other shells going right through the engine no matter what but at the time it was a pretty good idea
The last time it went up against a couple hundred lebs, it got decimated. And the Zionists went crying to the Americans for handouts and support (as per usual).
@@amusedobserver6134 you mean in last war in lebanon against hezzbolah? How many were lost? I thought most of the damage was from ATG hits against appartment blocks
Joshua张志鸿 5 Merkavas were destroyed beyond repair in the second Lebanon war, out of which 2 mk4s were lost. One to a Kornet, the other to an IED. It is important to mention that back then they did not have trophy, yet 50% of ATGM hits did not even penetrate.
As a former tank commander I see some issues with this presentation as it is presented in a one dimensional way. Proper employment of an MBT (tactics) are what drives tank development. Rear armour as an example is thinner than frontal for obvious reasons. Side armour is also thinner as proper tactics will mitigate the enemy's ability to engage you from that profile. The engine being in front was seen as a concern as heat shimmer may obscure the sights however, this has not been a big problem from what I have read. The turret MG issue is overstated as it is not a main engagement concern for an MBT. The Israelis DO NOT like cupolas as their experience is that they can be ripped loose in the event of a hit on the turret and potentially decapitate the commander. The Merkava 4 is still a very effective MBT, well suited to it's environment but like any tank is very susceptible to destruction when employed in an urban, close quarter battle
Yeah, i have to agree with you. There are no way for a tank to be designed to have same value of armour on all sides without sacrificing a lot of mobility and fuel cost. This is why tank is always have the thickest armour on the front and crew will always be taught to always front facing the enemy with their thickest part of armour while hiding their weaker ones. No tanks are invincible and Merkava 4, though i hate the owner of it which is Israel, is a very solid tank. It performed the role well as a very armoured fighting vehicle.
How is it even defined "in the world" ... Israel does not want to expand farther the regional powers are not getting upgrades and the nations with better tanks are not moving their tanks to the borders of Israel. So ... what is the point of the comparison then?
Regional is questionable as well when you start to look at allies of its neighbors and their equipment as well. Israel has been involving itself in the affairs of its neighbors for quite a while, and it is starting to earn the ire of some of its neighbors' allies (Russia and China regarding Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc), who all have much better equipment than Israel. Hell, Iran alone has a formidable force of missiles, air, and armored units, along with their navy.
Could you talk about other types of combat vehicles? Like the BTR series of APCs and the swedish IFV Stridsfordon 90? Edit: Love your unbiased, informative content :)
Nothing actually, the engine is either US or German in origin. No other US parts, ammo, main gun, electrics all Israeli, it will cost the US to buy the Israeli Trophy for their tanks and BTW the c. $3.8 B. annual grant has to be spent on the US to the tune of about $12 B p.a. so net gain around $8 B. for the US.
@@billhanna2148 WHAT? Israel has recieved more than say, Egypt or the years, but the two are comparable. Why don't you guys complain about Egypt? After all, Israel has a high tech economy and maintains geo-political order, all Egypt does is keep the canal open.
There are four versions of the Merkava. Mark one and Mark two have been retired or rebuilt into heavy APCs. Mark three and four are still in commission. Uppgrading tanks is an Israeli specialty.
but putting the engine in the front is a very bad idea just type on google ''destroyed Merkava iv" and you will find all the photos about the engine explode and Merkava iv got destroyed before by a kornet ! Egypt has m1 abrams and t-90 ms so yes Merkava is outdated and cant face the t 90 may be could face the abrams but not the t 90 and dude Merkava iv got destroyed before by A kornet ( cheap guided anti-tank missile )
Well as a former TC of a Merkava MK4 i can note some things ur maybe unaware of. As well as the commander, the gunner AND loader also have the exact battle managment system and loader as excess to the TC’s independent camera. There is no actual purpose for an L55 gun because it is much longer. These days tanks around the world and especially IDF’s armored brigade concentrate on urban combat. Therefore a longer gun will make something which is already hard - impossible. And remember these days the likelihood of a tank needing to shoot APFSDS round at another tank are , for IDF , pretty much zero. Lastly about the .50 cal mounted on the main gun. It not part of the commander’s personnal MG, it is used to fire one round at a time, to snipe with. Overall the tank is exactly wath the IDF needs to have to match his threats
@@waleedmukhtar2925 No, the ones with their RPGs that hide behind those children and hide their arsenal in schools or hospitals. And btw. those "children" will be full grown Arabs in a few years too.
Good analysis! To give feedback: Rather than looking at the surface level statistics, it would add so much more depth if you give context as to why the tank was designed that way. Instead of saying "X tank has bad side turret armor" or "Y tank has this feature but lacks another feature that most other tanks have", do give context for these design reasons. It would add so much more to the discussion if you take the extra mile and give context as to how the design fits with the user`s military doctrine, how it`s meant to be used, and how it could be improved in a given context.
It was designed to project of independence that the Zionist state simply never had. It had like 90% foreign components. As time went by, they managed to get licenced production for some of these components. The jevv tank is simply too slow for any real war. The Zionist state rely mainly on the U.S. to either neutralize or destroy it's enemies. Iraq, Lybia, Afghanistan, Syria and the US contained Iran and installed a military junta in Egypt. The Merkava is just a glorified IFV at this point, comparing it to real tanks is unwise.
for sure yes that's why the tank was designed that way but putting the engine in the front is a very bad idea just type on google ''destroyed Merkava iv" and you will find all the photos about the engine explode and Merkava iv got destroyed before by a kornet !
FirstDagger Not necessary, may be. Everything that are good about this tank are upgrade and upgrading a tank is at least cheaper than developing a whole new tank.
Why constantly repeat one thing over and over again, this video is not about all problems like that one was, no need to go too much into detail, thats why I told people to go and watch the video if they want to know more about the tanks problems
Its hard to tell something is obsolete without a war to test it. I mean even old ass t55As are being used in syria right now. Not as battle tanks but mostly as artillery, fire suport or in hull down as defence bunkers.
well i'm an aeronautical engineer haha but yea all tanks have their weaknesses. it's just impossible to make a perfect tank just like how knights don in plate still have gaps where they are vulnerable. it depends on how you use your armour that determines how much of that weakness you expose.
Takes a look at Abrams that was built with unbalanced focus on fighting tanks which only increased with modifications and whose recent updates focused solely on fighting infantry. Then takes a look at Merkava that was designed to primarily fight said local assymetrical conflicts. Nope, I'd even say it's the other way around:D
TheArklyte Merkava was originally designed to fight other tanks, primarily in defensive scenarios. Sort of an extreme chieftain in a way, with a VERY low profile turret (on the mk1)
When Merkava was first designed Israel was severely outgunned and outnumbered in the tank department by any of the major Arab states. It was meant to fight other tanks in a linear fashion under a controlled retreat doctrine. The Mk.1 has almost no turret side armor. All its armor is frontal. The Mk.3 baz was the first of the Merkavas to be designed with urban warfare in mind and its armor was transplanted to earlier models to make them more viable in MOUT. The Mk.4 was designed to again bring the Merkava on par with modern tanks in the tank-on-tank field combat arena. It was notably horrible for MOUT when it first appeared due to the lack of a hatch for the loader. In MOUT, having the loader outside the tank helping to defend it is crucial. As it was first designed, the Mk.4 forced the already severely overworked commander the task of defending the tank from multiple potential avenues of attack while his loader is stuck doing nothing 99.999999% of the time. Eventually they realized this was damned stupid and gave the loader his own hatch. So why delete the hatch in the beginning? Because the designers imagined the biggest threat for the tank to be coming from artillery, top-attack munitions, and aircraft. They never intended for the tank to fight in urban terrain because they already designed the Namer based on the same hull to do exactly that.
Merkava is not optimised for tank survivability. The emphasis is on crew survivability. They IDF is willing to sacrifice an engine, a hull, an entire tank, if the crew can escape, unharmed.
according to you everything is obselete apart from russian stuff, russian t64 - still very effective, just throw in some ERA at the front and you have an m1a1 beater.
Interesting, appreciate your overview. On the remotely operated commander MG, I'd suggest looking up Nicholas Moran's video on M1 Abrams switchology. (You Tube - In the Chieftain's Hatch - sponsored by Gaijin's competitor) In that he explains why, as a Abrams tank commander he didn't use his installed remotely operated HMG. As you mentioned back in the day the Merkava design put the engine forward as "additional" armor, the idea IIRC was that it would help protect the crew. That the tank would catch fire and burn from penetrating hits to the engine, I think, was expected. However, so long as the fighting/crew compartment wasn't penetrated they would have time to fight a bit more and then bail out sometime later if necessary. I say that while considering another of Mr Moran's videos where he get's into a Swedish S-tank and interviews a retired Swedish tank crewman. The S-tank has numerous fuel cans on the outside along the tracks. When asked about the danger of a fire, the Swede replied, "So? It's a tank."
He did kinda skim over a lot of things; for example, the turret structure is made of steel with modular composite packages on top, but the steel armor itself is arranged into several cells, creating additional spaced armor - which is also why the turret is such a massive pancake. The engine compartment is separated from the crew compartment by a steel plate, so shrapnel from engine hits won't damage the crew - and this also serves to stave off fire, which most tanks are equipped with fire retardants and fire suppression systems for. The tank further capitalizes on tank doctrine of "never show your ass to the enemy" by installing a big armored door on the back, through which the crew can escape in an emergency, resupply can be easily carried out in prolonged engagements in a defensive situation, and some command versions and medical versions of the tanks strip out some of the ammo to make room for a stretcher (which can be useful when engaging as a group of several tanks, if one is hit critically). For the FCS (fire control system), the vid was plain wrong - israeli tech is currently developing something called "Iron Vision", which will enable ALL CREW to have an AR unobstructed 360 degree view of their surroundings, thanks to an array of cameras on the tank. The video also left out the tons of sensors and radars on the tank, special anti-helicopter and anti-building ammo, the internal 60mm mortar for troop support and counter fire (because a mortar could hit a rooftop that an MG could not) and various other aspects. Finally, a big part about the merkava was forgotten - it's tracks. The tank is by large, meant to fit all environs of israel - but it was specifically designed to work the difficult basalt hills and mountain ridges of the golan heights. Where another tank would shred it's tracks, it can keep trucking on. The merkava is a defensive tank that is designed to hold a position no matter what, and damn the engine if we must - and they often would fight in tank dugouts that massive armored CAT D9 tractors would scoop out for them. Can't help but feel the vid is half-assed.
Hi Red! Just wanted to say a few things because your assessment of Mk 4 protection is mostly wrong. First thing is the most important. Mk 4 doesn't use NERA or ERA (except perhaps in the forwardmost section of the front hull) but SLERA. This means that potentially for the rest of the UFP and all around the turret the KE protection effectiveness can be higher than the physical thickness (unlike NERA) and/or lighter than NERA of the same volume. For thickness, the UFP is divided in two sections, one that hinges back for quick access to the engine and another one that can only be dismounted with a crane, for full access to the engine compartment. For the first section i estimated a LOS thickness of 643mm. For comparison, that is thicker than the UFP on T-90 (which includes its backplate). Behind that SLERA module there is about 2-3 meters of air (engine compartment) and afterwards the RHA steel plate that divides the crew compartment and acts like a backplate. In other words, the engine compartment works like a huge chunk of spaced armor. The other section is much closer to the crew compartment (less empty space to act as spaced armor) but is potentially much thicker than the section that can hinge. Some people have estimated that this section can be up to a meter thick in terms of LOS. How that physical thickness translates to effectiveness is unknown but can be estimated. About the LFP it's true that it is a weak spot. But it's also the area less likely to be hit in a frontal engagement (even more if Merkava 4 is hull down as it should when engaging tanks). However when compared to other unarmored LFPs such as the ones from Challenger series or Leclercs, Merkava 4 LFP is much better protected as behind it there is an armored fuel tank (diesel) and then the engine compartment which acts as spaced armor (2-3 or more meters of spaced armor are A LOT). The hull sides are also protected by thick armor modules which might me either ERA of SLERA (most likely IMO). In both cases, they provide better protection than NERA of the same weight or volume. If that is "bad" when compared to other tanks i don´t know... Now for the turret, i´ve estimated that both the side module and the front module from a 30 degree angle maintain the same LOS thickness of around 650-700mm (in front of the empty triangular channel). And both side and front modules are SLERA most likely of the same composition. On the other hand, the protection for the crew compartment on the turret doesn't diminish as you go higher in the module, the image at 1:26 is misleading and is not representative of the turret layout of Mk. 4 as everyone can see in the other picture at 1:51. The horizontal LOS thickness of the armor in the turret covering the crew compartment is stable at 650-700mm. In terms of thickness, Merk 4 has the thickest turret side armor in the world by a big margin. In combat, the side has withstood Kornet hits. Meaning that the frontal 180 degrees of the turret have 1500+mm of HEAT protection, which is unmatched by any other MBT. In terms of KE protection its a little bit more difficult to estimate, but to do so you have only to check the APFSDS used by neighboring countries. In that sense, the best MBT Merkava 4 might come up against is the egyptian Abrams, which fires KEW-A2 (tungsten version of M829A2) and two years ago Egypt just bough KEW-A4 (perhaps tungsten M829A3?). In any case, none of those rounds penetrate more than 700mm RHA, so it would be very rational that at 30 degrees from the frontal, Merkava turret should have an equivalence of 700mm. However, since the physical thickness at 30 degrees is the same as in the sides, and for all we know the armor composition is the same, it is possible and plausible that the Merkava 4 turret sides also reach 700 mm vs KE! In terms of raw numbers, 700 vs KE might not seem very high in today's standards, but what is important here is the coverage of the armor which is the best among today's MBTs as it has no weak spots over the frontal 180 degrees in the turret. Needless to say that straight from the front, the armor module gets a lot thicker, potentially up to 1000mm (although i don´t believe that the effectiveness goes much higher than what does at the frontal 30 degrees). Red if you want to address some of this issues just PM me i have no problem for providing pictures and sources.
@@komradearti9935 i thought as you before making my estimations. But certainly its true that the turret has the same thickness at 30 degrees than what it has laterally. If the composition of the front and side modules is the same then the only logical assumption to make is that they have equal protection qualities. At least that's what we can check for sure based on combat record is that both the front module from about 30 deg and the side module withstood the same ATGMGs (Kornets). So in terms of CE protection, should be represented as 1500mm across the front and sides. So far i haven't seen any indication that the side and front turret modules have different composition. Again keep in mind that we are talking about SLERA which is much more efficient in terms of weight and volume than NERA. For the side protection effectively that can be defeated by a Kornet (so does the side of every single MBT). So it's more difficult to estimate the protection effectiveness. No, regardless if the armor can be penetrated or not there are plenty of incentives for mounting an APS (if an ATGM doesn´t penetrate it doesn't mean that there is no damage to the tank).
@@komradearti9935 There is also the sides of the hull, which are less protected than the sides of the turret, I'd note. In regards for the turret sides' KE protection, assuming SLERA is being used, it wouldn't really be that much of a surprise as things go. Keeping in mind, that SLERA does offer more protection than NERA or NxRA vs CE, and might be close enough to standard ERA in weight performance the IDF decided to go with such for the sides as well, which would offer better multi-hit capability than ERA panels, e.g. they'd survive multiple RPGs to the side of the turret instead of just one. This having the effect of also meaning they'd have beefy KE protection. It's not an impossibility by any means.
@@komradearti9935 Merk 4 turret armor modules are 4, two covering the frontal 60 degrees and two covering the straight sides. About the side modules we know 2 things, that they are SLERA ("much" higher threat defeat capability than NERA at equal volume and/or weight in exchange for worse multi hit capability, that´s why they are designed to be replaced quickly if they are damaged) and that they withstood Kornets in Lebanon, meaning at least 1500mm RHA effectiveness vs HEAT. We also know that the front modules from 30 degrees are about as thick as the side modules and they also withstood Kornets meaning that they also perform as 1500mm RHA as minimum vs CE. We don't have confirmation that the front modules are SLERA nor that they have the same composition as the side ones, they could well be a different SLERA design optimized to protect also against KE. If that is the case, then we could have the same CE protection across the frontal 180 degrees of the turret but differing KE protection in the frontal 60 degrees. This might be easily what's going on, but we don't have solid supporting evidence. The other most likely scenario is that all turret modules use the same composition, hence, the have the same performance vs KE and CE per physical millimeter across the frontal 180 degrees (this is what i proposed). The figure of "700mm KE" at the very least for the frontal 60 degrees is based on the best APFSDS the Merk 4 may be shot with (KEW-A2 and KEW-A4 fired from Egyptian Abrams).
Israel has been busy updating the Merkava , so while the chariot ( translation of Merkava to English) may SEEM old , the upgrades are brand spanking new - designed for crew and infantry squad survivability .I live not far from Yad La Shiryon , The Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum at Latrun central Israel , and I can tell you first hand , the Merkava is an awesome bit of kit , so much so, that there is an APC modelled on " the old girl "
Gotta watch out for these babies in the incubators, they are able to operate complex systems such as 9M133 Kornet ATGMs while shielded by the ERA-protected incubators.
Nice, yes you can see how the focus changed in their armour zoning. The perceived main threat is from missile and top down attack. Which is what they mostly have to deal with. Kinetic munitions are for all combatants very hard to deal with and with current physical hard armour needs to be quite heavy to defeat those threats. This leads to vehicles that are very heavy and this affects the mobility side of the triangle. Nice vid and though short not bad. Thank you and keep them coming.
Merkava: The frontal armor is excellent against HEAT projectile... American destroyer equipped with a railgun turret: *I can penetrate over 5 merkavas in a row with one shot*
Railguns are used currently only by the Navy. It's an entirely new weapon system used by 1 or 2 countries in the entire world and they have no interest to use it against a regional power
JC 117 simple answer - no - you will always need a system that can combine mobility, protection and firepower no matter how modern the systems that are used are
no. MBT are far from being obsolete (it's quite the opposite in fact) and here's few reason: -MBT got an bigger margin of mass (so, you can fit more upgrade on them than on other platform. and the more extra-stuff an platform can carry, the easyer and the cheaper it is to upgrade it ) -MBTs are quite cheap compared to air-units (such as planes and copters) -MBTs, such as all ground units, can make occupation (an crucial task for when invading an area or waging an asymetrical warfare) -aside from MBTs, not a lot of units can survive a hit from even an 60 years old RPG (so, against modern weapons, they are the only thing that can stay alive more than few seconds). -modern MBTs carry good NRBC protection and can endure quite impressive shockwave (see the australian tests on old centurions vs nuke, and soviet test on T-55 vs nuke) wich is an tiny extra + (meaning, in case of something really shitty going on, MBTs are gonna be one of the last kind of units able to stay somewhat operationnal) an good exemple is the "life" (if we can call it that way) of the T-54/55 platform: from T-54-OBR1947 (in 1947) to the modernised T-55M of the 80s ---> this platform managed to stay more or less relevant for almost 40 years. (and even today, in some situation, this machine can still sometimes proove usefull ). it is true that in the 1960s, a lot of people though tanks where going to become obsolete (ERA, composite, NERA armor did not existed yet, and APS wheren't a thing yet, while ATGM and HEAT where already a thing, making the armor of this era quite obsolete (leading to MBTs being very light and poorly armored, such as AMX30 and leopard 1) but then...big improvment began in the defensive sector, and fat tanks made their coming back with more protection than ever.
You had a few mistakes with the armor on the hull there are 2 layers of unknown steel but if I had to guess I might say these are Israeli versions of high hardened rolled armor and rolled homogeneous and the lower part you showed a picture of a penetration in 2006 it wasn’t a mark4 its either a mk3 or mk2
@@Gongolongo its not automatic but people with abrahams and merkava tanks with trophy protection systeam are superior protected plus have better equipment and training .
none, but then again, Trophy is only the 1st system in the family. Iron Fist has proven capable of handling APFSDS and creating new gen that features both pluses and more is never out of the question.
The Merkava is an old tank? If you take into consideration most of its modern counterparts are also quite old vehicles. The Leopard two entered service n 1979 and Abram was first produced in1978 for evaluating. Even the French LeClair is almost 30 years old. You also have to realise that this may not be the best tank in the world. But it is the best tank for Israel
At the moment I heard Merkava is an old tank I understood that this guy have nothing to share except advertisement from Gadjin.... T-72 according to this guy is pretty new one.... Ura russian patriot ...
A few important things you didn't bring up, part of the reason the merkava has the design is does is partly due to the terrain, this has much better gun depression angles that there most of the enemies.
The heck? At -8.5 degrees it's basically no different from the -6 on T-62 and T-72. Abrams (which Egypt operates), Chieftain and Challenger (which Jordan operates) have -10. In any case, Israeli tank doctrine is to avoid elevating the front of the hull relative to the enemy because the lower glacis is basically tofu. Additionally, the tank is very front-heavy due to the engine placement. The gun bearing is located roughly over where the CG is in the tank, so a Merkava would topple forward and down a berm before it could take a hull-down position to bring its gun to bear, which is why they fight on the level nearly all the time. You can see this in actual footage of the tanks in action. The way Merkavas are meant to take advantage of terrain is to hide behind it, not crest it like an Abrams would. The Israelis took great pains to armor up the tank's turret ring and keep the surface of the hull level so that the gun can be depressed to the same angle all around for this purpose.
It is well suited for the environment it has to deal with. A replacement was being developed but the budget was redirected for missile defense systems. I think any future replacements will be unmanned.
I wonder how good the protective barrels are. its a pretty important factor for survivability, would be cool to dig up some info on it , maybe a test or something,.
It's an Israeli tank designed for Israeli use in the defense of their country. I don't believe it was ever meant for export. It doesn't matter what Syria, Egypt or Jordan have. Israel has never lost to the arab countries, even though S,E,J bought new tanks from the USSR/Russia. I believe that Israel will continue to dominate the region no matter what tanks they got.
The reason the engine is in the front is a military doctrine one. The engine acts as armor for the crew and results in the loss of the engine and disabling of the tank. That is fine for the IDF as they don’t have much manpower to call upon so they value the crew highly, so high that they rather have the tank immobilized or lost but have a higher chance of saving the crew. That is why the tank has a small crew compartment in the back and a big escape hatch in the rear.
Here we are three years later and IDF announced Merkava Barak with artificial intelligence computing, 360° cameras, next gen Trophy APS, HUD display for crew members adopted from F35 pilot helmet (the F35 pilot helmet was designed in Israel by Elbit systems).
How many will be made? The MK4 with the trophy is in the single digits after a decade. Israel doesn't have the money anymore due to the Gaza war destroying its economy. What do you mean by AI computing? Do you mean AI software?
@@conductingintomfoolery9163 Israel is rebuilding it's economy and making it more war industrialized. It will have enough to produce quite a bit of tanks.
That's not how it works chief A tank has to be able to be field repaired without being too complex for a crew member. Etc etc. It has to be 50/50 of crew and tank efficiency. A Abrams tank can still be fucked by an old Soviet tank if hit in the side hard or back.
@@medina5129 Isn't that what i just said? A good crew knows the disadvantages of the machinery they are operating and the TC depending on the situation will always try to exploit all the data around him.
This is one of my favourite channels but I think this upload was a bit weak on detail. For example, an explanation of how this mbt’s specs stand up in the context of the likely adversaries.
Sir i kinda like your videos but your generalizing the topic for every tank wich is big mistake. Merkavas doesnt build for what you say or argue. they are amazing hull down tanks to protect their crew. İts not a game you barely see tanks from very long range if they are well hidden in hull down positions. We all saw that even leopards are very well prone to any kinds of late spgs. Plus merkavas and the team behind them have so much information from their tanks unlike the other companies. Your mistaken they are in hot war zone and everyday they do improve their tanks according to their needs.
MhazG, The crew could just escape out the back hatch in the event their tank is disabled, the tank is designed for the survival of the crew in mind. Israeli industry can replace the lost vehicles but not the experienced crew. Surviving crewmen are excellent source of feedback for the Merkava’s tank designers.
I think it is important to mention the military doctrine that the vehicle in question is part of. This would thus highlight the 'strengths' & 'weaknesses' as for one military doctrine the weakness may be significant. Whereas for another it may be minimal. Just a thought on future videos 👍
The ammo bins are actually an issue. Arjun MBT also uses this same system, canisterised ammo bin. But in testing it was found that direct hit would set off atleast 1 shell, which would kill the crew, even if the other ammo didn't catch fire.
Those are there in case of shrapnel hit which would light the round on fire. When you have no bins it burns everyone inside straight up, with bins some time is required for the round to burn out of bin (maybe half a minute or less) giving crew some time to escape the tank before it bursts into flames. It is there purely for crew survival
@@komradearti9935 yes a direct hit will blast it either way. But when 1 projectile in the bin catches fire it will take some time for it to ignite other projectiles which gives you extra time to escape.
@@komradearti9935 Yes but you have to take into consideration that once one starts burning the other ones will take time to heat up and start burning themselves. Therefore if 1 charge has a hole in the bin where small amount of fire is coming out it wont kill anyone inside or instantly ignite rest of the rounds, that is why each one of them is separated in their own bins. When fire is coming out of one it slowly heats up other projectiles around it that after short time either explode or catch fire themselves, thus it is not instant so it gives some time for crew to bail out. Sure fire suppression system might do its job but why risk it, bail out and if it is safe return to the tank if the fire has been put out.
@jame Gumb this is one of the main reasons on why a lot of tanks including the abrams use shorter L44 gun. They just don’t really engage other tanks they are more focused on counter insurgency In tightly populated areas and upgrading to the L55 would just make it harder to drive around in a city environment with the longer barrel. And some of the tanks they do engage are older T55s and T62s and the rarer T-72 with no ERA. So the L44 would be good enough for them.
@@UDMH Except they use bigger charges and modified gun in their tank rounds to match German L/44 guns that can take less pressure. So that is a thing as well. Not sure if Merkava uses the German design or the US design. Still, long range probably would prefer the L/55, so how much long range engagements does either engage in? If cities are more often fought in (Iraq, Kuwait, Gaza) it makes sense to have a more compact platform no pointy thing sticking out a long way.
@@BenyKarachun who tf is talking about video games. If you think your imaginary jew tank can survive 50kg of C4 detonated directly on top of it You're absolutely insane, that amount of C4 will rip apart any tank currently produced and kill the entire crew. At 20kg it will most likely still kill multiple crew members and damage the tank beyond repair as has been proven multiple times with ieds even at range, so unless your argument is that 20kgs is too heavy for anyone to lift I'm afraid you're completely wrong
It isnt pretty good it is the best tank in the world and it comes from one that worked on in the merkava and the abram and I learn about them as an hobby also israel is currently working on the merkava mark 5
Again... the Merkava 4M is NOT desgined to be tank v tank combat, think of it like the modern infantry tank, like the churchill from WW2 the tank was very good at supporting inantry and bponced a lot of hand held AT or AT guns (exept the long 88) but when it come to tank v tank hit suffers, the israeli do know what is thier problem now and know how to deal with it (I already can see you "only good againts rocks" comments below) but no, the Merkava fights againts RPGs IEDs and ATGMs. Unlike other countries the israeli army fights againts unconventional enemy and he knows how to deal with it.
@@militaryanalysis5028 Oof, then let me explain to you. This tank is built for ISRAEL, wich means, it does not desgined to fight other tanks because the main enemy of israel is HAMAS and Hizbella, wich don't have any tanks (Hizbella have a little tho).
@@militaryanalysis5028 First of all, the merkava from 1970s is way different than the merkava in service now, and i didn't said its designed to fight infantry, what i'm trying to say that its not your typical MBT. Its not designed to fight mostly tanks ( he has APFSDS, so what ? He had this to have the capability to fight tanks, but it's not an Abrams, or s T-90, its not used as an armored spearhead, but more of a supporting role.
actually can you make a video on some of the most advance modern tanks today in service?? i watched a bunch of your videos but i really duno which tank is good and which one is bad lol
That arjun tank outperformed and outgunned russian T90 tanks in exercise. During tests,arjun survived 5 direct point blank APFSDS hits fired by an Israeli L44 gun armed with M338 Rounds. This man even don't know that the problems he was talking about was identified in 2015 and since then Arjun has been upgraded with numerous features. Arjuns Kanchan armour can sustain direct APFSDS hits. Equipped with Tonbo Imaging see through armour vision system,LEADS150 aps, and a new DU APFSDS round with penetration capability of 700-780 mm RHA at 2.3 km,arjun has become deadlier than one can imagine.
@@arpansow3870 dude if you can't take a joke go home and log off the internet. your tank is a meme! And i'd rather be in a T-90M or T-80UK any day over Arjun.
@@arpansow3870 "withstand with from apfsds", what apfsds there are many and many have diffrent penatration, and dont go and said the same shit that arjun survided a shot from T 72 from point blank, what did they use as the round in the test?, 3BM42,3BM43 or DM23 which is it?
@@wonkagaming8750 it was a svinets round...Not only T72,but T90 rounds were also fired at it. Five times the trials were given,means a total of 25 trials. Arjun passed all of them with flying colours.
@@wonkagaming8750 also,I stated that Israeli M338 rounds were also fired. It was being considered for Arjun but the OFB chairman got caught red handed while dealing with IWI and thus IWI was put on sanction list.
Israel has developed a Iron Dome defense for its tanks which was used effectively in the last Gaza war. They need to to do it to all their tanks & APCs. LONG LIVE IDF.
You are missing the main point off the merkava we don't care if systems fail as long as the crew is safe, for sights let's just say that they aren't the same sights between the mk 1 and 4
It is an excellent tank for Israeli strategic and tactical conditions. Unlike Abrams, it is NOT designed to work in the plains of Eastern Europe. It is NOT a World Tank, but a tank for very restricted territory: Gaza, Southern Syria & Lebanon. Its lack of resistance to APDS rounds should not be a problem under field conditions found in the region. If Syrian tanks should attempt to invade Israel, Merkava 4 combined with long range Spike missiles (from accompanying infantry) will make mincemeat of Syrian armor. Always remember that tanks do not fight alone, but as part of a unified tactical structure: Tanks, Mechanized Infantry, Artillery (including ATGMs). IMHO, the main weakness is to mines, and mine detection is a major factor in modern tank warfare.
A large powerful tank with a huge internal volume that can be used for anything you want. That is a characteristic that all other tanks lack and would be nice to have even in limited numbers.
The Israelites opponents have historically not possess the most modern tanks used in Europe. Not Leopard 2s, but not the Syrians have the T-90 and that changes things.
In Syria T-90 was killed by T-72.... the T-90 is the most overrated pos tank in the world... a T-90 was captured by rebels and fought against its former owner the Syrian Army ... a Syrian Army T-72 killed the captured T-90... you realy bevlive a Merkava would have a problem to take out a T-90..specially if you take into account that no other tanks crews in the world are as effective at ultra long range shooting than the IDF
Engine was not mounted in front for to take a hit and act as armor. Reason for mounting engine back is to have safe access to vehicle from rear, in case of hit crew can leave safely, can be reloaded as self propelled artillery. Can stay in active defense way longer. That it will become disabled if hit because of that is bullshit, any tank will become disabled if hit and penetrated from front lower plate, soviets have fuel, ammo and driver there, is not it better to lose engine the cooked ammo or killed driver? Israelis value their soldiers, whem m113 was hit and soldiers died people came out and started protesting, what russians did when their sons died in bmps and btrs? Nothing, still to this day post soviet soldiers travel in squad shared coffin. Oh we dont need heavy armored ifv, its cost and weight as much as tank and has no gun, soviets would say, thats cause single persons life was and is worrssless in soviet and post soviet places