| This is a tough one. The two tanks pretty evenly matched. The Challenger is better armored but slower. That trade off, I'm not crazy about unless I had both. Both have seen a lot of time on the field of battle. But one beautiful thing that the Merkava brings to your arsenal that the Challenger either hasn't got or hasn't proven:
1.) Superb Urban combat ability -- Any tank can do well out in the open, but doing well in a city is something else. Most tanks aren't too good at that. The Merkava is about as good at Urban fighting as a MBT is going to give you.
2.) Speed -- Being able to move fast is more than huge. Getting there first in battle or outflanking an opponent are often as big or bigger than the battle itself.
3.) More years of proven battlefield service. The Challenger has a couple of Wars under its belt. The Merkava has developed through several and every single day in the Holy Land is a day that a Merkava crew might expect to be fired upon at any moment.
4.) Merkava has better anti-mine protection.
On the other hand, the Challenger is a tough nut to crack and very hard to kill, with the toughest armor of any MBT that I am aware of.
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"It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it."
- General Robert E. Lee
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