Hundreds of Israeli Merkava Tanks on the Way to Europe

The Merkava tanks have been the Israeli Defense Forces' primary battle tanks since the 1980s. In recent times, the Armored Corps has been replacing most of its Merkava Mark 3 tanks with the more advanced Mark 4 models. The resulting design of the Merkava tank remains unparalleled among other main battle tanks.

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[bartb]

The Merkava was not the first tank to be outfitted with a 120mm smoothbore gun. The Leopard 2 was build with that gun from the very early 80's.

[superapollo]

Most beautiful exterior design among tanks.

[zendao]

War is indeed a very lucrative business.

[nharwood]

Two problems 1. they are so heavy most small bridges cant support them 2. have a habit of exploding on contact with kornet missiles.

[marcoscarvalho]

Another gamer changer?
Hezbollah: wait a minute...

[uxleyew]

Don't think any will be going no where now

[markell]

The Merkava tanks have now been shown up to be not as made out to be by Hamas Drones 😅

[d.l.hemmingway]

The Merkava has such a unique design that to me as a former American Tanker it looked like Israel was looking at developing something originally that could replace their aging fleet of M-48s, Centruions, M-60s and other older tanks as well as their fleet of M-3 Halftracks and M-113 APCs. The Merkava has a forward mounted engine/ drive train pack. This means that the rear compartment is used not only for Tank Crew Evacuation, but also allows the Merkava to function also an IFV, and another advantage of this rear compartment and hatch arrangement is that hte Merkava can be safely reloaded with ammunition without putting its crewmen at risk from opposition small arms fire.

[MFitz]

The potential European customer is Cyprus, ... for their OWN USE. Not to pass on to Ukraine. No Merkava are going to Ukraine.

[dewdew]

3:48 Offering improved protection for the CREW. The idea is that the crew escapes, the tank is recovered, and the engine is swapped. So long as its designed not to explode when destroyed, it offers the crew more survivability from a frontal attack, especially with the rear escape hatch. The way I see it, the only mistake is that the crew doesn't slightly lie under the engine, with the engine located not just near the front, but also more near the top. The serious frontal protection they've prioritized should be extended to the top, and who doesn't love a bigger engine? It's only 60 tons, it wouldn't hurt to make it heavier. Also a massive armored plow on the front would be dope.

[yoops]

Merkava mk V is being tested by the IDF since January 2023, thus mk IV is not anymore the last version.

[ericgiebel]

The merkava design is really cool, but the engine in the front worries just a little

[CsImre]

If "Europe" is Cyprus and Morocco, then true.

[andrasbeke]

While I don't claim that the Merkava is a bad tank, the forward facing engine is more of a downside on the modern battlefield. Engines have a lot of empty space and are not made of composite, so they do basically nothing to slow an APFSDS, and introduce a lot more spalling from a hit. It also massively increases the frontal thermal signature, making them easier to spot on FLIR

[AviSapir]

In my opinion
One of the wishes of the Ministry of Defense of Israel - to clear the warehouses in order to put modern equipment in reserve for the needs of the army in the future
What's even more interesting about this sale deal is that Israel will profit in the long term from spare parts and requests for acute auxiliary systems for the tank.

Such a small country sells tanks in Europe and others want them

Interestingly, how Israel managed to compete with world powers

Even behind the old technique they stand in line

[brooksbrown]

This is a good Tank Design, as a Design Engineer I can see the advantages of the Tank on the Battlefield, I have seen these for many years which only proves how timeless the Design is, These Tanks are in fact very difficult to knock out, Incoming rounds, Anti tank or H.E. many times have no affect, Javelins and the rest of the Anti Tank Weapons used today, I think are more of a threat to this Tank as the top surface of this vehicle is not able to deflect modern Anti Tank Missiles.

[manueloser]

Send it to Ukraine for testing like leopard Bradley and challenger☺️

[rodneymiddleton]

Wow this is a historic first for any Israeli tank to go out of Israel being bought, times do change

[alichahin]

Rumours say it might be Morocco and Cyprus

[verfed]

A few years ago the IDF finally finished equipping all it's active armoured brigades with Mk4 Merkavas. And the oldest tanks in reserves are now only Mk3s soon to be the newewst Mk3 baz. That leaves over a thousand Mk 1s, 2s and 3s that are sitting in storage.