The engine is in the front to provide protection to the crew. Every part of the overall design is expected to contribute to helping the crew survive. The primary design criteria was crew survivability. The Merkava is the innovative Israeli design of Major General Israel Tal. About 1200 Merkava Mk 2 and Mk 3 tanks are in service with the IDF. These are easily replaced whenever better ballistic technology is introduced. Ballistic protection is provided by special armour modules, which are attached to the tank by bolts. The main features of the Merkava Mk 3 are a new suspension system, a 1200 horsepower engine and new transmission, a higher power main gun, and particularly new armour protection. The Merkava Mk 3 Baz entered service with the IDF at the beginning of 1990. Production of Mk 2 continued until 1990 when it was superseded by the Mk 3. The Mk 2 featured improved mobility, fire control system and armour, as well as the inclusion of an internal 60 mm mortar. Production of the Mk 1 continued up to 1983, when the IDF began to receive the Merkava Mk 2. The first Merkava Mk 1 tanks were supplied to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in 1979. The Merkava is the main battle tank in service with the Israeli armed forces. It was decided that any technological knowledge which may be lacking would be acquired in part from abroad, and in part developed within the country's own defense and industrial establishments and by Israeli research institutes. In addition, two hundred industrial plants would be upgraded with new technologies and capabilities, as required for the manufacture of the thousands of parts, components and systems, needed for the production of the Merkava MBT. The existing IDF basic tank depot was to be utilized as the tank's final assembly plant. It was also decided to utilize the industrial infrastructures existing within the IDF, the civilian and governmental military industries, expanding the manufacturing potential of existing plants where necessary. So, the last development stages were happening as the production process itself was going on. This method is characterized by the start of serial production, based on prototypes, before completion of all development and demonstration stages. With the objective of reducing the development time to a minimum, it was adopted a philosophy of "telescopic development" process. But, as a result of various know-how restrictions, specific technological reasons and operational requirements, it become clear that if Israel was to develop an entirely new tank, it would necessarily have be based not only on existing systems, but also on entirely new developments and original components. The original plan was for the development of a tank to be based primarily on existing systems and components. In time, the continuity of the ever present possibility of war ensued the decision, by the Israelis, to develop their own Main Battle Tank. Israel proved, by the means of their ingenuity, to be able to upgrade their available armored force up to a point that they could, by the means of a very well thought concept of combined arms warfare, plus the introduction of new training systems for their troops, to defeat all threats and to advance and occupy part of enemy territory, overcoming the superiority those enemies appeared to have. The first step was the modernization of the tanks and armored vehicles they already had. But the numeric and qualitative inferiority continued, and Israel had no option except to start developing their own armored force, with whatever resources available. Some years later, Israel managed to acquire some British Centurions and American M48 Patton tanks, and more recently, some American M60 Main Battle Tanks. This was considered an impressive addition to the Egyptian armored fleet, which at that time numbered some 430 western armored vehicles, of various types.Īt that time, Israeli weaponry was always inferior in both qualitative and quantitative aspects, consisting mainly of World War Two vintage Shermans, and French AMX-13 tanks. Prior to the Sinai Campaign Egypt received, within the framework of the "Czechoslovakian Arms Deal", 300 Soviet tanks and tank destroyers, including the Stalin-3 and T-34 tanks and SU-100 tank destroyers. Today, the tank is central to the art of war, and is considered the primary decisive factor on the modern land battlefield. Since the Sinai Campaign, thousands of tanks have been destroyed in battle. 6,200 tanks engaged in combat during the Yom-Kippur war. A total of 2,500 tanks were deployed during the Six-Day War by Israel and the enemies. Since the Sinai Campaign, the land war between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations has become a war of highly mobile and armored formations. Israel deployed 200 tanks in Sinai, versus 150 tanks deployed by the Egyptians. The Sinai Campaign of 1956 was characterized by mobile, armored warfare.
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