Footage of a small, bomb-equipped Hamas drone setting a $4 million Merkava on fire in October has once again raised questions about the effectiveness of main battle tanks, just as those photos from the Sinai desert, or the images of destroyed tanks in more recent wars, have stoked renewed debate about the role of tanks on a modern battlefield. Tal "was adamant that any Israeli design would have the crew's personal protection as a paramount objective; the vehicle would have to be capable of withstanding an enormous amount of punishment without endangering the crew's lives," Samuel Katz wrote in his history of the Merkava. The latest version in operation, the Merkava 4 — the Merkava 5 was only unveiled in September — was deployed with the tank battalion stationed on the Gaza border on October 7, as well as with the units now fighting inside Gaza.
Author: Michael Peck
Published at: 2023-12-05 23:17:01
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