Missing in the pictures is a chain ball skirting that is placed all around the turret to trigger RPG's to go off ahead of time. Some of the advantages of design of the Merkav is that the engine is in the front adding a third layer of shell adsorbsion to an anti-tank round. First the shell must penatrate the highly angled front plating, explodes in the engine and behind the engine is the engine compartment firewall armor layer. It is like a free extra layer of armor in the most vunerable spot.
A second feature is the very sharp angle of the turret, where it meets the barrel, it is the same width of the barrel. When the tank is dug in behind a berm or rock all you see from the distance is a barrel hole with no turret sticking up.
The third and fourth advantage's are that since the engine is in front, there is a hatch on the back of the tank for troop access. That allows it to be used as a battlefield ambulance for wounded troops. You can just toss a wounded buddy in the tank to evacuate him. It can also be reloaded while in action on the battle field. The IDF have developed special vehicles to do so. The M1A1 needs to be pulled back to the rear to be reloaded through the top hatches. This keeps tanks on the front lines where you need them, instead of having to recycle them during major attacks.
All in all a very nice tank, with electronic control systems that equal the M1A1 for firing on the roll.
the chain-ball skirting 'splains a lot. Also, with those better pix I can see that what I thought was rubber skirting is not. I like the M1A2. I like this even better as the slope on the armor is a REAL winner. I am having a hard time conceiving of what type of anti-tank round would be able to dig a hole in that; sharp-edged discarding sabot D.E. maybe? I would imagine that it would just hit and flip off but I could be wrong. The Merkava also doesn't have the turret bustle/long barrel overhang that the Abrahms does. Heck the Germans knew the disadvantages of that clear back before WWII: It doesn't work well in urban warfare. Looks like the Merkava held that lesson. I wonder about the accuracy of the shorter barrel though. Either way, I'd love to have one for commuting into L.A. at least once.
Now that you mention it, I can see the chains hanging down from around the edge of the turret. As stated I'm not really aware of what makes a good tank, so I'll defer to you about it.
The rest seem to be common sense ideas. But isn't that the case in just about any technology or advance in design? As soon as somebody does it, the rest collectively slap a forehead and say "Wow, why didn't *I* think of that?!?