History of Israeli Armour & Tanks
Today Israel enjoys a stable well armoured and modern indigenously produced Main Battle Tank, the Merkava (Mk4 being the most recent). However it has not always been this way.
Since the formation of the armoured corps after World War 2, it could only lay its hands on obsolete US M4 Sherman’s.
Super Sherman AKA Sherman M-50 & Sherman M-51
In 1956 Israel went to France and found itself buying the AMX-13 tank, despite its light armoured protection in order to purchase the tanks high-velocity powered 75mm main gun, which they could retrofit in to their Sherman’s.
The first 50 units were based on M4A4 hulls, had a Continental R-975 gasoline engine and VVSS suspension. However, the increased weight of the vehicle combined with narrow tracks led to poor off-road mobility.
For the rest of the conversions, hulls were fitted with HVSS suspension and a Cummins V-8 460hp diesel engine.
These subvariants were sometimes referred to as the M-50 Continental and M-50 Cummins. In the 1960s, 180 Sherman tanks received the even more powerful French 105 mm CN 105 F1 gun. The vehicle served in several conflicts and was withdrawn from service in the 1980’s and were designated the Sherman M-51.
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AMX-13
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Centurion AKA Sho’t
In 1958 Israel purchased second hand Mk3 & Mk5 Centurion’s from the UK, which were armed with the 20 pounder 83.8mm main gun.
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M48 AKA Magach 3 and 5
During the earlier 1960’s, Israel was able to buy some 2nd hand US M48’s (these used a 90mm main gun) which were now being replaced with the M60 in USA service.
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Up-grade work….
Buy the time The 1967 Six-Day War had started, the IDF found itself operating all these tanks, which had various levels of mobility and firepower, but was in the process of standardising them with a licence built 105mm Main Gun, diesel engines, suspension systems and tracks, so as to offer a commonalty in parts and the supply of munitions’ to them all.
This work was carried out by the Israel Ordnance Corps.
But their talents didn’t just end there, they displayed a remarkable ability and value in recovering abandoned and damaged enemy tanks, which they too were standardised. The most famous was the capture of Arab T-55’s which were standardised.
T-55 AKA Tiran 4 & 5
Tiran was a series of upgraded capture T-55’s in varying levels of upgrades. Estimated numbers of captured Tiran’s are up to 1500. They were withdrawn from service in the 1980’s and modified into Achzarit APC’s (scroll down).
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M60 AKA Magach 6 and 7
By 1973, Israel was being supplied with the US M60 MBT, following the UK’s withdrawal for the offer to build the Mk4 Chieftain under licence.
The M60 was deployed in the 1973 Yom Kipper War, however scores were lost to hand held anti-tank weapons which would strike the hydraulic lines for the turret traverse system, which would then explode and kill the crew.
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Development of new armour…..
The lack of modern tanks that used stand off or laminated/composite armour materials that were being used by other nations like the UK, France, Germany and Russia and the susceptibility of the M60 (which also used steel armour) to shaped charge weapons set an urgent requirement for an Appliqué armour response, that is something that could be attached to the external skin of a vehicle to defeat these threats. Israel developed a new type of armour called Explosive Reactive Armour.
Bricks of ERA marked in red boxes on a Magach 6
This was a brick sized object consisting of an explosive sandwiched between two thick metal plates. When a projectile, such as a shaped charge round hit’s the ERA brick, the force of the projectile triggers the explosive, blowing the outer metal plate into the projectile, destroying/damaging it so it couldn’t penetrate the skin of the tank.
With this new armour fitted to the M48’s & M60’s (now re-designated the Magach Series) and Centurions (Sho’t) which had all been upgraded with the 105mm rifled main gun, which was proven capable of defeating Russian tanks, the IDF formed a formidable force and proved far more successful against Syrian and PLO Russian tanks during the 1982 Lebanon War than the earlier 1973 war.
A Chariot is born…
IDF General Tia, realised that it wasn’t the destruction of the tanks which posed problems, it was the death of experienced and trained tank crews that Israel could ill afford to lose. This forced him to start an indigenousness development program in the late 1970’s for a new Israel MBT that focused on the protection and safe evacuation of the crew and led to the production of the Merkava MBT series.
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Nothing is wasted….
Whilst the Merkava series was being developed and manufactured, the Israel Ordnance Corps continued in the up-grade of the US tanks and didn’t miss a trick, with the conversion of old obsolete tanks in to heavily armoured APC’s, rather than simply scrapping them like other countries would have and gone to the trouble of buying newer, less armoured APC’s.
Achzarit APC’s (modified Tiran tanks)
The Achzarit Mk 1 has a 650-hp engine, while the Mk 2 has an 850-hp engine. IT carries a 3 man crew + 7 troops.
It is armed with three 7.62 mm machine guns, including one Rafael Overhead Weapons Station, a machine gun controlled from within the cabin, developed by the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems As a lesson from the Second Intifada, a bulletproof glass turret was installed over one of the hatches to enable the commander to see outside without being exposed to sniper fire and shrapnel.
Several Achzarit are equipped with 12.7mm Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station in place of the standard 7.62mm Rafael Overhead Weapon Station.
Because of its heavy armor, the Achzarit is sometimes called a heavy APC (HAPC). Achzarit APCs are in service with the IDF Golani Brigade, which operates near the Lebanese border and in the northern part of the West Bank and with part of the IDF Givati Brigade.
Achzarit APCs took part in Operation Rainbow in Rafah, after a comparatively lightly-armored M113 APC was destroyed by an RPG round.
Nagma
The Nagma Sho’t was the first of the Sho’t converted APC’s. It was not as a successful due to the troops having to exit through the roof hatches.
Nagmachon
Nagmachon is a heavily armoured armoured personnel carrier fielded by the Israel Defence Forces. The Nagmachon evolved from the NagmaSho’t APC, which in turn was based on Centurion Sho’t hulls from the 1970s and 1980s.
Nakpadon
Nakpadon or Nikpadon is an Israeli heavy armored personal carrier (HAPC) based on the Centurion-derived Nagmashot.
Puma
The Puma (Hebrew: פומ”ה פורץ מכשולים הנדסי) is a heavily armored Combat Engineering Vehicle and armored personnel carrier that the Engineering Corps of the Israeli Defence Forces has used since the early 1990s. The vehicle can carry a crew of to eight. The 50-ton vehicle has a speed is 45 kilometers an hour.
The Puma uses the hull of the Sho’t, which in itself is a modified British Centurion tank.
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Namer
As the Merkava Mk4 has been entering service, the Mk1’s have been withdrawn and some converted into Namers. The Mk1 (picture above) is diferent from the Namer developed on the Mk4 hull (picture below). The Mk1 has higher right angled sides at the top and the Mk4 has more larger sloped angles at the top of the sides.
