the mortar was built in so that the tank can fire HE rounds at ATGM crews with out being in eye contact.

Originally Posted by rocco

alex, im guessing the underbelly is VERY well armored, IDF has learnt from experince of MANY road bombs and mines to armor its tank, and up armor its existing m113's etc with steel plates for the floors... even the unarmored cards have steel plates for mines atleast up to say, 10kg.

i would also like to state, that the merkava 4 is very new, alot of the other top tanks are a few years old already...

another point is that the morter is used to conserve vital ammo from the main gun (only carries 50), this is handy for use against bunkers etc...

I was trying to compare a scorpion (the animale) with the tank, I was not serious.

I thought most of the mortars were built in for popping smoke.

I thought most of the mortars were built in for popping smoke.

all modern MBTs have smoke dischargers. The Merkava has those too...We are talking about a 60mm mortar that is mounted in the Turret. In earlier versions it was mounted on the outside, but today the mortar is internal.

I think it's more like a shark, it's fast and flexible and very deadly. The main gun is like its teeth and the mortar is like the lazer beams attached to their forheads.

Alright, nough with the animal comparisons. And its not really fast at all....

That was an interesting mixup about the Merkava going 60 mph. It would be interesting to see a MBT that could make that kind of speed, but I'm afraid it would be too much engine and a completely insane fuel hog. Of course there isn't a top of the line MBT that goes that fast. The fastest modern MBT I know of is the LeClerc. Can anyone think of a faster one? 72 kph (44.712 mph). Earlier versions of the M1 could boast about the same speed.

Now I like the Merkava so much is for many reasons. The turret design that allows for a full size main gun barrel with less of it sticking out (aimed forward). Compared with every other design I can think of, the Israeli Merkava FAR outshines everyone else in armor sloping. There are very few directions you can hit a Merkava from without a strong chance of your shot deflecting in some way, and being rendered partly or totally ineffective. On top of it all, the Merkava has nice a low profile, but not to the point of losing the ability to target the main gun downward.

Lots of people will crunch for numbers armor tonnage, engine sizes, depleted uranium and so forth. Everything is important of course. You can take your basic shapes and designs for modern MBT's out there and throw newer and newer technologies on the same basic tank concept. All generally tends to equal out in these categories. But the basic shape tends to remain with little change. I'd pick the Merkava for effectiveness of shape over any other. My personal opinion.

Modern versions of the T-80 are extremely fast. They have something like 27 horsepower per ton.

and modern sabots don't deflect, they bite straight in.

i think Merkava is a great tank, however, this tank is specificallly designed for the warfare Isreal fights...

this tank puts lots of its weight to increase the protection of its crews (Isreal cannot afford to lose much ppl), and personally, i think it is very heavy and not suitable to fight wars outside Middle East region..

anybody knows the maxium speed and distance Merkava 4 can go?