The Birth Of A Tank (pic too)

IDF Website ^ | November 20th, 2002 | Israel Defense Force

[tomahawk]

Great post!

[SamAdams76]

Nice tank. Now let's put it into use promptly.

[Asclepius]

... The Brigadier added, "a large number of the workmen actually molded the cast for the tank's metal sheets with their bare hands" ...

Who else in the world would field a hand-made tank?

[cmsgop]

Great Looking Piece of Meat! It Looks Hungry......

[Rodney King]

The gap betwwen the turret and the chasis is a major shell trap. Check out the Abrams, Challenger, and the Leopard II. They don't have such traps. I have know idea why the IDF designed the turret that way. I guess they are not planning on using it in a MBT roll.

[RetiredArmy]

Back during the 67 and 73 mideast wars, damaged tanks from the war came back to Alabama to the Anniston Army Depot to the Army Tank Rebuild Center. My dad was a lead welder there and worked 18-20 hour days repairing their battle damaged equipment and it was rush-shipped back. As far as I know, AAD is still the only place we do this type of work on tanks.

[SwinneySwitch]

Neat, custom tanks!

[rockfish59]

Bring it on!

[RightWhale]

The gap betwwen the turret and the chasis is a major shell trap

Sure looks that way. Did they design it that way on purpose? Maybe there is an armor shield that fits over that, active armor or an armor neck.

[anguish]

Indeed. Looks really weird, like they really want someone to blow the turret off the chassis.

[Travis McGee]

Yeah, what's up with that turret gap? "Shoot Me Here, pop my top."

[Dog Gone]

According to this new method, testing of the tank is concurrent with the production of the tank. This way, due to the changes happening all the way through the production, the first tank off the production lines will be different than the 20th tank off the production line.

How would you like to be assigned to take tank #1 into battle?

[yonif]

I have trust in the Israeli army to create a tank which is fit to the type of warfare it will be used in. Not all types of warfare bring out the types of "vulnerabilities" like the ones people have described. It took 3 years to build. I believe it has been tested fully - unlike that Bradely vehicle if you guys all remember :)

[yarddog]

It certainly looks like it is just waiting for someone to put a crowbar in there and pry the top off. On the other hand I guess most shells rockets etc. which hit it would have a slight or great downward angle which would help.

BTW I just found out that the M1 Abrams was designed by Dr. Phillip Lett whose Father used to be our preacher at a small country church.

[xm177e2]

Who else in the world would field a hand-made tank?

Who would think a hand-made tank would be much cheaper and much better than any other comprable tank in the world?

[Rodney King]

I have trust in the Israeli army to create a tank which is fit to the type of warfare it will be used in. Not all types of warfare bring out the types of "vulnerabilities" like the ones people have described.

Nobody is crapping on the Israelis, but there is an obvious exception here to tank design since the re-do of the Panther turret in 1944, so it is certainly worth exploring.

[xm177e2]

It certainly looks like it is just waiting for someone to put a crowbar in there and pry the top off. On the other hand I guess most shells rockets etc. which hit it would have a slight or great downward angle which would help.

I think part of the Israeli doctrine is that they will have air superiority, and that they will destroy enemy artillery very quickly, so that is less of a worry for them.

[xm177e2]

Oops, I misinterpreted your post. A straight-on shot right there looks like it would do a lot of damage. They must have a good reason for the design, that's a pretty obvious vulnerability.

[tortoise]

I guess they are not planning on using it in a MBT roll.

I concur. There are several design aspects that put it in more of a light-to-medium tank class than a serious and competitive MBT. It appears to be optimized for dealing with APCs, urban areas, and older tank designs. Since they are not usually fighting against M1A1s, this may be a valid design assumption that allowed them to cut costs.