Re: Merkava.
 

Near the bottom of the site page I posted there are pics and some info on other IDF vehicles. Like the pic of a armored D9 dozer mounting a 50cal OWS. Those thing are BIG!

Re: Merkava.
 

Anyone read the site I posted yet? I know its long but its full of historical and technicle information on the Merkava. Not to mention pics and videos.

MOBHACK,

Seeing as the ability of the Merkava to carry troops is "a myth" please explain the AAR about the fully armed Merkava MkIII that rescued 13 wonded Israeli troops in one trip. All carried internally.

Re: Merkava.
 

Really ? " Fully armed" ? A fully armed Mk III holding the crew AND 13 wounded Israeli troops in one trip ? I'd like to see a photo of that.

We had an Isreli tanker posting her for a while. It would be interesting to hear from someone who's actually crewed one of these things.

Don

Re: Merkava.
 

DRG,

It's all on the site I posted on page 1 of this thread.

Here is the pic from the site of the tank in question. The Crew are in front, the rescued men are sitting on the tank. Just count.

Re: Merkava.
 

Also from the same site.


"At first during the 1990's Lebanon conflict, Merkava I & II crews would carry as much as 92 105mm rounds into combat unless they
carried troops in which case they would carry 47 rounds and up to 10 combat troops. Now with a slightly larger tank in the Mark III &
IV series they can carry 50 rounds of 120mm main gun ammo and an 8 man combat platoon into combat. This would still be 10 more
120mm rounds than a current Leopard 2, LeClerc, Chally or Abrams M1A2 SEP (improved) carries in NATO exercises. Even LESS
aboard a French LeClerc in UN Lebanon service BTW."

Re: Merkava.
 

Well, the way that website is organized is a festering sore for sure. Frankly most of pictures simply refuse to load on my browser, so I have to withold my judgement.
That said with statements worded like this...

One can be forgiven if he starts looking for the closest pinch of salt

http://a.imageshack.us/img830/5319/tank1w.jpg
http://a.imageshack.us/img52/8194/destroyedmerkava.jpg
(OK not an IV but still...)

If you can post the pictures showing the internal arrangement of the rear compartment we can get a better idea. Preferibly one with both ammo and troops if available.

In tank design there is not such a thing such as free lunch. Increased volume must mean either inferior protection or greater weight, basic geometry at work here.
Perhaps they decided they wanted both an APC level of troop carrying capacity, good armor and 40+ rounds at the same time.
In principle you can centainly have that.
But then I would expect a very steep penalty in terms of weight for that, certainly those early rumors I heard about 90 tons Merkava IV would start to sound a lot more sensible in this case.

Re: Merkava.
 

Marcello,

The site takes forever to load but is worth the wait.

The statement you refer to sounds very far feched and your photos prove the point.
I belive the author was writing about a Merkava that had to be abandon in Lebanon. The Israelis did not whan the vehicle to fall into enemy hands. Fearing that it might despite their efforts a mission was sent out to strip the vehicle of everything that could be stripped. They kept a watchful eye on the remaining hulk to make sure it was not towed away before they themselves could do the same. To secure the vehicle the Israelis not only dropped artillery on that tank they also called in air strikes to keep enemy salvagers away from the wreck.
To top it all off, the remains of the tank were finnaly recovered and seeing that there was only minor damage to the hull that tank was re-built.

Re: Merkava.
 

I have two pics. One id from the inside. 4 men a visable not counting the photographer. The caption says that 4 men have already deployed from the vehicle.

Pic 2 shows part of the rear of the vehicle. But the rear door and some of the seats are shown.

4 seats per side. Another section in the same site says that the layout of the Namer APC troop compartment and that of the Merkava is almost identicle.


EDIT. The pics I have will not up-load for some reason. I'll try again.

Re: Merkava.
 

The site is a total mess easy to miss all the links somewhere near the bottom there are links that show some inside views.
It does appear roomy & could probably operate as a short range battlefield taxi with a reasonable ammo load on board. However the ammo seems to be stored near the clamshell rear doors so once the magazine is empty you would not be able to reload till the passengers got out. Guessing here but not for use cross country unless you want injury more to drop off & support a patrol as a sign of strength, riding into combat I just cant see.
Wheres gingertanker when you need him.

Re: Merkava.
 

I would say the pictures dont tie in with this, Merk very cramped though incredibly roomy for a tank due to shoehorning the engine in the front.
Namer is a limo most spacious APC ever? nice well spaced seating & decent headroom.
How is simple crew & electronics take up a lot less space & the Namer if anything offers a bigger profile as the superstructure runs the full length & is around half turret height.