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| Fatal mistake of the Israeli military-industrial complex. Merkava is no longer the best tank in the world |
| 2023-10-11 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Sergey Adamov [REGNUM] The command of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged not only the damage to manpower - the death of at least ninety reservists, special forces and tank crews in the very first hours of the Hamas invasion - but also significant losses of equipment. According to preliminary data, the Islamists were able to temporarily capture several dozen Merkava 4 tanks, dozens of heavy armored personnel carriers Achzarit, Namer, and M113 and Nakpadon armored personnel carriers. During Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, Hamas forces, we recall, temporarily took control of several Israeli army bases. According to materials published on the Internet, there were a large number of armored vehicles at military bases that never left for combat positions. The fate of most of the equipment remains unknown. Some armored vehicles were hijacked by militants into the Gaza Strip. But most likely, most of them were destroyed at IDF bases. This opinion, based on data from the conflict zone, was expressed in a commentary to IA Regnum by military expert, reserve tank forces officer Alexander Mikhailovsky. Another part of the armored vehicles managed to enter the battle, but were destroyed by the militants. At least one Merkava 4 tank was hit by a drone dropping ammunition. The vehicle was subsequently seized by Hamas, which revealed the bodies of the dead crew members. At least one tank was disabled by anti-tank missile fire, and another as a result of a hit from a grenade launcher. Didn't pass the "Competition" The published footage showed the serious vulnerability of Israeli armored vehicles, which were previously positioned as the most modern and adapted to modern warfare, experts say. The Merkava IV tank was adopted by the IDF by defense industry standards recently - in 2004. Israeli developers stated that unique alloys were used in the development of tank armor, as well as modern hull layout methods. A modified version of the tank, the Merkava IVM, entered service in 2009. The vehicle is equipped with the Trophy active protection complex (APS), which is considered the most modern development in this area. The developers emphasized that when installing the complex, the tank is equipped with sensors for detecting anti-tank missiles and hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher ammunition. The computer manages to analyze the missile’s flight path and fire a charge towards it, destroying it on approach. At least that's what it was in theory. “The destruction or even defeat of tanks is the main image failure of the Israeli defense complex,” Mikhailovsky emphasized. If one of the vehicles was hit by an ATGM, the Trophy system did not work, and in the case of a grenade being dropped from a copter, it did not work either. Why this happened is a separate question, but now the Merkava has lost its status as the “best tank in the world”, like the Abrams previously. To destroy the tanks, they used not modern weapons, but Soviet-made anti-tank systems - “Fagot” and “Konkurs” and RPG-7 grenade launchers with tandem ammunition. Previously, these weapons, developed in the 1970s, similarly buried the reputation of the Abrams tanks used by Saudi Arabia in Yemen. On the other hand, none of the cases of tank destruction led to the detonation of ammunition or other fatal damage to the vehicle. It was possible to destroy the Merkava only by blowing it up from the inside. However, in a number of cases, Israeli equipment was unable to save the lives of the crew. “How can we storm Gaza with this?” Experts note: the Trophy active protection complex was most likely greatly overestimated, which instilled a false sense of security in the Israeli tank crews. “After this, the main question is how the crews will storm Gaza with these tanks,” Mikhailovsky noted. The main idea of the Israeli defense industry is the safety of the crew: they talk about this in schools, they talk about it to foreign delegations and customers. Now it turns out that their armored vehicles are simply not ready for the realities of modern war. Palestinians drive an Israeli military jeep through the streets of GazaConsequences of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv The same concept of crew safety formed the basis of the Israeli program to develop armored vehicles for transporting infantry. The Israeli army uses Achzarit armored personnel carriers, made on the basis of T-54/55 tanks taken as a trophy in the wars with Egypt and Syria. Using the concept of turning a tank into a heavy armored personnel carrier, Israeli industry produced the Namer armored vehicle based on early modifications of the Merkava tank. Israeli armored personnel carriers were also considered the best in their class, but were unable to protect the lives of the crews. A separate question is raised by the level of training of Israeli tank crews, who were not ready to participate in hostilities. According to videos published by Hamas, the crews of the armored vehicles are not trained in anti-infantry tactics. In conditions where the enemy has a large number of hand-held weapons to destroy armored vehicles, tank crews have to actively maneuver, preventing the enemy from aiming at the target and simply “dodging” missiles. For an unknown reason, some Israeli tank crews did not maneuver, but took the battle head-on. “Apparently, they relied too much on the same Trophy active protection complex, which did not work. This is a fatal mistake, and I think that in the future the developers of the complex will be asked fair questions,” adds Mikhailovsky. What can the Palestinians gain from captured equipment? The main intrigue is whether Hamas managed to take at least some of the captured equipment to the Gaza Strip. Palestinian factions do not have trained crews to operate tanks and heavy armored vehicles. It is possible that an “anti-theft system” is built into the armored vehicles - a beacon that allows you to determine the location of the vehicle. Unable to drive the armored vehicles to Gaza, the militants destroyed some of the vehicles by blowing them up from the inside. However, it is impossible to completely exclude the possibility that some of the trophies could eventually be delivered to Gaza and hidden in Hamas bases. In this case, captured armored vehicles may be of some interest to foreign observers. Israeli tanks, despite all the identified shortcomings, are equipped with advanced electronics, fire control systems (FCS), and communication systems. The heaviest loss for the IDF was when the latest modification of the Merkava Barak tank, which appeared in one of the videos made by the militants, fell into the hands of Palestinian groups. The armored vehicles were only put into service in 2023 and are equipped with the most modern equipment, including an all-weather camera with a 360-degree viewing radius, allowing for round-the-clock surveillance. The tanks received a full-fledged on-board computer with advanced data processing systems and a modified Trophy active protection system. And now all this could fall into the hands of the Palestinians or their allies. If even one captured armored vehicle was hidden in the tunnels under Gaza, Israel may have serious problems in the future. At one time, Iranian specialists developed a single captured Israeli drone and created a whole range of drones based on it. If some captured Israeli developments leak to Hamas’s allies, they can be used in the development of new armored vehicles produced in Iran or Pakistan. Disassembly and analysis of the “stuffing” of Israeli tanks also opens up opportunities for the development of new anti-tank weapons, which in the future means even greater problems for Israeli tank crews. While the Israeli army is preparing for revenge for the Hamas invasion, the results of the militants' actions have yet to be assessed. Regardless of how the operation in Gaza proceeds, the Israeli army will have to rethink the entire concept of developing and using heavy armored vehicles. Perhaps some of their “best in the world” tanks will have to be written off or seriously modernized to suit the realities of modern warfare, which will require large costs and organizational decisions. However, the main blow was dealt on the image front. And now the Merkava is no longer the “best tank” in the world. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #8 Combined Arms Warfare. Designated anti-drone vehicles will support the tanks ...you simply can't build an affordable weapon system that does everything. |
| Posted by: magpie 2023-10-11 18:58 |
| #7 ^ Prolly going to need an added jammer system |
| Posted by: Frank G 2023-10-11 18:39 |
| #6 Drones are the new New Thing and *everyone* will deal with them in their next war. Adapt or die. I wonder if Trophy is capable of even seeing a drone. Wiki says it was designed to defend against ATGMs and RPGs, all of which move much faster than a drone, and have a different approach trajectory. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2023-10-11 18:08 |
| #5 Doubt is a genuine force-degradation tool, and this Russian author has flavored his effort at it with a heavy dose of sour-grapes and frustration. Perhaps a result of reading the after-action, BDA and Lessons Learned literature from his own homelands less-than-stellar armor forces performance. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2023-10-11 12:47 |
| #4 ...Comnrade, On its worst day, the Merkava is far, far better than the mid-Cold War T-62s you're sending your sons out to die in. Love, Mike |
| Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2023-10-11 08:17 |
| #3 And all tanks are vulnerable to drones unless they have an active drone defense. Russians are experts about their tanks turned into scrap metal due to drones. |
| Posted by: Percy Flotle3938 2023-10-11 06:53 |
| #2 Someone just wanted to brag on soviet 'anti tank systems' from the 70s. |
| Posted by: Dron66046 2023-10-11 02:05 |
| #1 Any tank can be destroyed, it is unclear if Trophy was turned on. |
| Posted by: Spomonter Speaking for Boskone8031 2023-10-11 00:19 |