[snowfox]

This is a rare insight to how the the Merkava was defected. Nothing technical, as it was intended as a News program for general release.

Aljazeera documentary shows how Arab resistance managed to destroy the myth of the Israeli Merkava tank.I didn't write tthis, just copied it whole sale from the person posting the video.

The 4 videos linked as one continuous video.
Link: Video Link: http://video.google....586453841327363

If you can, download the video, as Google sometime, delete the video

Note, Youtube, seem to be experiencing some problems, GMT 0200hrs, But Google Video is not affected.

God's Chariot - Episode 1 - 07 May 07 - Part 1
This is the link to the small segements of the video, just in case some may want portion of the video.
Part 1 Video Link: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=LRePg43EafM

God's Chariot - Episode 1 - 07 May 07 - Part 2
Part 2 Video Link: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=mxHtx0fLe2E

God's Chariot - Episode 2 - 07 May 07 - Part 1
Part 3 Video Link: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=7w2JryDnnx8

God's Chariot - Episode 2 - 07 May 07 - Part 2
Part 4 Video Link: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=51r41zfqALw

This post has been edited by snowfox: 10 June 2007 - 2207 PM

[Vasiliy Fofanov]

Ouch. The hit at 6:25 is clearly followed by the secondary explosion...

[DemolitionMan]

Nice find! Despite the propagandistic ending it was interesting to watch. "A tank is there to fight tanks, not human beings" Oh what crap...

[zakk]

I have just looked through the first half and some of the second half of the first episode. Some initially thoughts (as I am at work and should really not do this):

The vehicle hit at 6:25 is clearly not a Merkava, but one of the Centurion based APCs. It is a glitch in the film between the hit and the secondary, so from the film it is very difficult to make any certain assertion on what caused the internal (as it seems to be) explosion. Perhaps the APC were carrying high explosives?

Some other curious claims are made, like at 10:37 where that Egyptian "expert" claims that the 1973-war was the first time in history that wire guided ATGM's had been used. He is only off by 28 years...

In the second half of the first episode at 03:20 it is claimed that the Merkava was covered with reactive armour, while showing the Merkava 1. That is a a little bit off...

[Vasiliy Fofanov]

I agree, huge number of inaccuracies in the film. Like Merkavas being knocked out at Sultan Yakub, and by T-72s on top of that. Or implication that ERA was used in 1973... If not for several seconds of nice footage the film would have been completely useless (at best).

[Zvika]

The Merkava tank is still the best tank.
From the 500 tanks Israel put in action during the war, some 50 tanks were hit by the thousands of the
"fantastic russian missiles".
From those hit, only 22 were penetrated. And from those 22 only 2 were lost, the other 20 were quickly repaired.
Some 2 or 3 others were lost due to mines.
So what's the big deal. The overall loss was thus 5 tanks. One percent of the force and that during a period of more than a month.
It is in fact a incredible low loss ans the losses of the crews were due to their exposure in the turret as the Israeli tanksoldiers
do fight with hatch open.
Wait untill Trophy will be installed.
And even without Trophy it was already an excellent tank which protected the crews formidably!

[Vasiliy Fofanov]

Zvika, on Mon 11 Jun 2007 1743, said:

From the 500 tanks Israel put in action during the war, some 50 tanks were hit by the thousands of the
"fantastic russian missiles".

Just to be fair, there were also fantastic American missiles in the mix.

Quote

It is in fact a incredible low loss ans the losses of the crews were due to their exposure in the turret as the Israeli tanksoldiers
do fight with hatch open.

*Some* losses were due to that. Others weren't.

[cybermax]

zakk, on Mon 11 Jun 2007 0747, said:

...Perhaps the APC were carrying high explosives?
...

Mortar team? :unsure:

[Sardaukar]

Wasn't that Centurion-based APC (or was it Combat Engineering Vehicle) carrying a demolition team with explosives that also went off? I seem to recall such incident in past. Probably some of our Israeli contributors can shed more light to this one.

[Yish]

Sardaukar, on Mon 11 Jun 2007 1828, said:

Wasn't that Centurion-based APC (or was it Combat Engineering Vehicle) carrying a demolition team with explosives that also went off? I seem to recall such incident in past. Probably some of our Israeli contributors can shed more light to this one.

There were two incidents of a load of demolition explosives going off inside IDF APCs in Gaza, but IIRC they were both M113s.
Also the terrain looks much more like Lebanon than gaza. I won't be surprised if this was indeed filmed during the last war, albeit its late appearance is suspect. It should be noted however that such APCs were active in Lebanon for many years prior to the withdrawl in 2000, so this could be old footage.

[Marsh]

Yish, on Mon 11 Jun 2007 2054, said:

There were two incidents of a load of demolition explosives going off inside IDF APCs in Gaza, but IIRC they were both M113s.
Also the terrain looks much more like Lebanon than gaza. I won't be surprised if this was indeed filmed during the last war, albeit its late appearance is suspect. It should be noted however that such APCs were active in Lebanon for many years prior to the withdrawl in 2000, so this could be old footage.

Hi Yish,
You are spot on. It is Lebanon and it is a Nagmachon. The incidents in Gaza involved M113s. The son of a close friend was meant to be on the second M113, but was pulled out of combat duty because of a serious vision problem. He is lucky to be alive.

The footage, I believe, predates last year's mess.

cheers
Marsh

[Husar]

Zvika, on Tue 12 Jun 2007 0143, said:

The Merkava tank is still the best tank.
From the 500 tanks Israel put in action during the war, some 50 tanks were hit by the thousands of the
"fantastic russian missiles".
From those hit, only 22 were penetrated. And from those 22 only 2 were lost, the other 20 were quickly repaired.
Some 2 or 3 others were lost due to mines.
So what's the big deal. The overall loss was thus 5 tanks. One percent of the force and that during a period of more than a month.
It is in fact a incredible low loss ans the losses of the crews were due to their exposure in the turret as the Israeli tanksoldiers
do fight with hatch open.
Wait untill Trophy will be installed.
And even without Trophy it was already an excellent tank which protected the crews formidably!

And you have access to classified information?....I ask because you're throwing figures around.

BTW, I agree that the Merkava is a good tank, maybe even the best in terms of protection.

[gorf]

Yish, on Mon 11 Jun 2007 1954, said:

There were two incidents of a load of demolition explosives going off inside IDF APCs in Gaza, but IIRC they were both M113s.

One of these incidents is described in video, however they claim they destroyed a Merkava <_<

[Catalan]

Husar, on Mon 11 Jun 2007 1623, said:

And you have access to classified information?....I ask because you're throwing figures around.

I thought the 'official' count is 5 Merkavas knocked-out during the war? I don't know the definition of 'knocked-out' in this case, though.

[zakk]

gorf, on Tue 12 Jun 2007 0138, said:

One of these incidents is described in video, however they claim they destroyed a Merkava <_<

As Merkava means chariot or wagon, and the mighty Gav!n certainly can be described as a wagon, at least they are 0,0001% correct on that one.


:P

[Tuccy]

zakk, on Tue 12 Jun 2007 1231, said:

As Merkava means chariot or wagon, and the mighty Gav!n certainly can be described as a wagon, at least they are 0,0001% correct on that one.
:P

They have apparently learned of the sinister plans for conquering the world dominance using MerkaGAV!IN's ;)

[gorf]

zakk, on Tue 12 Jun 2007 1031, said:

As Merkava means chariot or wagon, and the mighty Gav!n certainly can be described as a wagon, at least they are 0,0001% correct on that one.
:P

Or another story. They claim that Israeli tanks advancing from Metulah to Khiam were stoped by missiles 3.5 km from the border and forced to retreat. In fact Israeli tanks reached Marjayoun, which is behind Khiam, although one Mk3 tanker was killed.

http://video.nrg.co....wmv/570/849.wmv - video in Hebrew about it.

[kotay]

Husar, on Tue 12 Jun 2007 0723, said:

And you have access to classified information?....I ask because you're throwing figures around.

I'm guessing he got his figures from an article published by Globes [online], Israel business news on August 30, 2006

Quote

52 IDF Merkava tanks were damaged during the war against Hizbullah in Lebanon. 50 tanks were hit by anti-tank missiles and two were damaged by roadside bombs, according to the Ministry of Defense Merkava tank program administration.

One lesson from the war is need to quickly provide Merkava tanks with active protection systems able to destroy incoming missiles. The Merkava tank program administration and IDF Ground Forces Command, which is responsible for weapons procurement, are monitoring two active protection systems for armored fighting vehicles: Israel Military Industries Ltd.’s (IMI) Iron Fist, and Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd.’s Trophy.

A senior defense establishment source told “Globes”, “Although development of Iron First has made very good progress over the last two years, it is far less developed than Rafael’s Trophy system. On the other hand, the potential of IMI’s system is much greater than that of Rafael’s system.”

The Merkava tank program administration believes that, were it not for the risk of a new war, it might be better to wait for testing of Iron Fist to be completed, because it is considered more advanced. In order to create a critical mass of tanks able to deal with the threat of anti-tank missiles, one to two brigades (200 tanks) need to be equipped with active protection systems, at a cost of at least $100 million.

According to Merkava tank program administration figures, missiles penetrated 22 tanks, killing 23 crewmen. The missiles in these cases were heavy Russian-made RPG 29, Kornet E, Metis-M, and Concourse missiles, used by Hizbullah. These are tandem missiles, with a double warhead that can penetrate the Merkava’s reactive armor and steel plates 70-90 cm thick.

Tests conducted on the damaged tanks indicated that Hizbullah had full information needed to identify the Merkava’s weak spots.

18 of the damaged tanks were the most modern Merkava Mark IV. Eight of the tanks were still serviceable, despite being hit.

The Merkava tank program administration said five of the damaged tanks cannot be returned to service, including two Merkava Mark II and one Mark III. The two tanks damaged by roadside bombs were a Mark II and Mark IV, which will not be returned to operational use. The Mark IV tank was equipped with underside armor, which prevented a large number of casualties among its seven-man crew; only the one soldier was killed.

18 of the 23 crewmen killed were in five tanks hit, half of them in clashes in Wadi Salouki. The Merkava tank program administration noted that when counting the tank casualties, it should be taken into account that some of the tanks hit were carrying additional troops in addition to their four-man crews, which increased the potential casualties.
The tanks protected 90% of the soldiers they were carrying.

Another collaborative article (with less details) can be had from here

[DemolitionMan]

Hey, the Merkava is the death trap no1 in the israeli military since it´s introduction...so don´t come up with facts that could destroy this nice illusion! ;)

For those who liked the footage of the Yom Kippur War and the action of the Egypts at the Suez canal, here´s more footage, 10th row from top, middle picture: http://www.portierra...pags/videos.php

[Gavin-Phillips]

Tests conducted on the damaged tanks indicated that Hizbullah had full information needed to identify the Merkava’s weak spots.

Really? I would have thought that would be classified information to be sure, how would they get their hands on such data? Or maybe its the fact that a tandem-warhead can do serious damage to even the heaviest armoured of AFV's whether they are top-line MBT's or not.