Posted on 11/20/2002 2:57:01 PM PST by yonif
The tank was rolled out in all it's glory at the Maintenance and Restoration Center (MRC 7100) at the Tel-Hashomer military base. The location was selected because it was where the tank had been changed from a collection of drafts and sketches into a steel "baby". It was the place where it had been molded from the thousands of steel plates into an impressive metal tank.
The following is an excerpt from an article written by Guy Zakhaim, published in the Technological and Logisitical Directorates' Magazine (2nd edition) on October 2002.
Commander of the MRC 7100 Colonel Shahar Kadashi said in his speech: "The people at MRC have been involved in the development of the tank for a very long time. They have invested in it not only their hope, but phenomenal effort as well". He added, "We definitely feel that there is an element of a birth process here."
Blue and White at Half Price
The price of the Mark 4 Merkava tank is 30%-50% cheaper than any other tank worldwide.
"The father of the Merkava tank, Major General (ret.) Yisrael Tal, was keen that the tank be manufactured by the IDF's Military Industrial corps so as not to be bogged down by unnecessary red tape", said Brigadier David Engel, head of the Merkava tank program. "Most of the parts belonging to the Merkava 3 were made in Israel as part of Israel's "Tank-Building ideology". The Brigadier added, "a large number of the workmen actually molded the cast for the tank's metal sheets with their bare hands". As a result of the fact that an "Israeli made" Merkava is cheaper, the IDF has stopped importing tanks from abroad, thereby making the IDF more independent of foreign aid.
"It is a great source of pride, national pride even. Lots of foreign representatives come to visit and are genuinely impressed by the plant. The MRC has almost become a sort of pilgrimage site and representatives from foreign armies visit us as much as twice a week."
As strong as a 'Tank'
The biggest difference between the Merkava 4 and the previous versions of the tank is that it has increased protection. Because it has increased protection, there are fewer types of ammunition that can damage it, including the newer types of weapons that have been developed over recent years.
Part of this "invincibility" is due to the fact that, like in the previous models, the tank's various systems double as defensive systems while absorbing damage that might otherwise prove fatal to the crew. The crew fights in a closed compartment that shields them from unnecessary dangers.
According to the Merkava tank program's managers, the creation of the Merkava 4 tank was the fastest ever creation/manufacture of a tank. "Generally it takes close to a decade for a tank to go from being a design on a blueprint to being on the production lines," said one of the managers. The Merkava 4 tank took only 3 years to produce, except for the engine whose production began a short time earlier.
"Telescopic Production"
The Merkava tank program managers attribute the quick development of the tank to a revolutionary new development method called "Telescopic Production". 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.
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"The design features that were reveled show that the Merkava Mk. 4 is specifically intended for full-scale conflict with Syria, and will significantly alter the military balance between Israel and Syria."
"The Israeli media stressed after the unveiling ceremony that the Merkava Mk. 4 was specifically designed for improved performance on the difficult terrain of the Golan Heights...Israel's military planners clearly allotted high importance to possessing a tank capable of traversing the difficult terrain on the road to Damascus."
"The ability of the new Merkava MBT to defend itself against helicopters represents a major shift in the power balance between Israel and Syria."
"The new tank is a clear indication that the Israeli leadership regards war with Syria as a more than likely possibility."
Nice War-Wagon. They only get better and better. That turret gap isn't as big a vulnerability as it may appear. Any ordinance of size would be striking from above or at an angle, and any smaller ordinance fired from close-up wouldn't have enough force to overcome the kewl armor it has. This is definitely a full-scale battle tank with it's armor system and tank-killer cannon, and the mortar system gives it impressive infantry support capabilities. kewl deal.
Ummm, "stolen" by IMI is the proper adjective (from US the ordnance works BTW).
I'm not knocking the Israelis, but that's the truth as far as I recall.
Kewl indeed, but not the reason for having a 60mm mortar aboard a tank. White phosphorous rounds fired in advance of a platoon movement burn through the guidance wires of wire-guided antitank missiles, the big killer of Israeli armour during the 1973 war. The Israelis noted their deficiency, licked their wounds, and did something about it.
I bet they've got crowd control chemical rounds for use in the Gaza and Golan Heights, too.
Actually, the 120mm cannon on our Abrams was a German Rheinmetall smoothbore cannon, not an original US design. But I don't think we stole it.
To bad the prototype was never finished - had a 4000 to 5000 hp V16 cat diesel, electric drive by GE (basically a locomotive drive)
The program was defunded because it was so big & the Soviet Union didn't exist anymore.
I believe this acquisition was discovered around the same time as Pollard.
That's freakin' BIG. Do you have any links with pics?
All that was actually assembled was the chassis
The engineers working on it were mostly right out of college & had read all of the BOLO series by Keith Laumer& the Hammer's Slammers books by David Drake, they were a bunch of sci fi junkies
A lot of the development was coordinated by FMC/United Defence, GE & CAT used a bunch of the data to punch the AC locomotives up to 6000 HP
They were also considering a railgun instead of the 30 cm gun.
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