Re: MBT's
I agree ALTAY was in jeopardy at one time. When relations were on a much better footing with Israel before the start of the
M60T program and others, Israel even then saw a partner in an unfriendly neighborhood that politically would as act as an influence in the relations between Israel with Syria and to some extent Iran. This cooperation had made Turkey the leading country to receive the MERKAVA 4 with that tank why move on with the ALTAY? It would've been the cheaper alternative vs. taking a tank off the drawing board. There were of course other political factors in play as well (As Turkey announced they were going forward with ALTAY early last Spring.) and the MERKAVA deal was DOA before the events of this past summer which made the international news when 8 Turks were killed by IDF forces which further eroded relations between the two nations. All this has been already reported on in this thread. So the bottom line Columbia is now the leading candidate for the export version of the MERKAVA 4 and Turkey is moving ahead with the ALTAY. And Israel and Turkey are trying to "mead fences" at this time.
I thought the FMBT looked somewhat familiar, but I think two factors are in play as a generalization in design:
1. What do we base the new design on and make it ours?
2. How often will the design change due to political and military realities before we even see the final prototype design?
Back slooowwwlly to the final list.
Regards,
Pat
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