Im not a tabnk man, or a soldier at that....And the Merkava still is secret in some ways...But here is what i know...
The Mk I and Mk II had the Older, thiner turret shape. Now, The Mk III, was a diffrent story. It had the 120mm main gun, unlike the older veraients.So the Turret had to be redesighned to some level...The earlier Mk III still had a very thin turret, but when the new generation of AT weapons(top attack), and the addition of the new fire control system, they added some armour slates and other things around and above the turret. The armour slates added around the turret vary from tank to tank according to the needs of the activety(they are modular). There are now Mk IIIs and Mk II with more extra armor. Now, the Merkava Mk IV is a whole diffrent tank. really, the body, engine electronics, turret, whole diffrent deal...

My only point was that you lost the advantage of having a slimmer turret, showing a smaller target profile to the enemy.

Your right. I guss the desighners decided that the extra armor and electronic systems are more importent. By the way, when yuo say mobilty, do you mean speed? because it dose lack that(55kmh cross country).

I realize this is a serious discussion of what tank is the best fighting maching, and I don't want to annoy anyone by dropping this in here, but in the course of talking about the 'perfect tank', for a little variety, perhaps someone might like to see what tankers say about the 'ideal tank' from their point of view.

You can go here to see their dialogue.

http://www.ciar.org/ttk/mbt/tanks/ta...omforts.1.html

Here's a brief quote from the start of the discussion, and it goes on from there with a lot of give and take between the tankers--

begin quote:
Forget bigger guns, AA missiles etc. The things tankers would like to see
are:-
a) A small diesel generator to run the electrics with the main engine off.
b) Air conditioning for those blazing hot summers and places where it's
always so hot.
c) A small pump to run a decontamination shower. Also doubles as a neat
field shower.
d) DC sockets to operate stuff like notebooks, shavers, stereos and which
they can use to recharge their cellular phones.
e) More stowage. You can never have enough.
f) a Microwave oven.
g) cupholders

If this seems like a flippant topic, just consider these things for a
moment. We send millions on each tank and they are just so underspecified.
I'd like to hear from some tankers on these suggestions and also for any
other things that anyone feels should come as standard on a multi-million
dollar ride.

I remember from somewhere that an Abrams clocks in at about 3.5 million
sans support. I'd expect more than DU mesh armour and thermal imagers for that kinda money.

endquote

He gets a lot of answers and counter-suggestions as you go farther down the page. Actually kind of interesting.

The older Centurion had a soket for an electric tea pot....Israeli teams hookd in an electric pan for egges and stuff...

I remember reading somewhere that during WWII the British made tea in their tanks from the heat coming out of somwhere and the Americans brewed beer in their tanks.

Originally Posted by FutureRANGER

I remember reading somewhere that during WWII the British made tea in their tanks from the heat coming out of somwhere and the Americans brewed beer in their tanks.

There is a fascinating similarity between the spellings of 'Luger' and 'Lager'.

Haha. Wait.... wasn't the Luger German?

The M1A2 IS climate controlled, DOES have a external Generator for running electrical systems, showers in the field are for REMFs, ANY tank that uses 24 volts can have power sockets using a simple $50 inverter (I know I bought one for MY tank), Already has excellent stowage space, and WTF do I need a microwave oven and cupholders for? Are you suggesting I take a fridge and my La-Z-Boy recliner as well? I think you are missing the point that it's a TANK. 2nd GEN FLIR is VERY expensive.

You obviously aren't a tanker.

Originally Posted by dragon_master_gunner

The M1A2 IS climate controlled, DOES have a external Generator for running electrical systems, showers in the field are for REMFs, ANY tank that uses 24 volts can have power sockets using a simple $50 inverter (I know I bought one for MY tank), Already has excellent stowage space, and WTF do I need a microwave oven and cupholders for? Are you suggesting I take a fridge and my La-Z-Boy recliner as well? I think you are missing the point that it's a TANK. 2nd GEN FLIR is VERY expensive.

You obviously aren't a tanker.

quote: "You obviously aren't a tanker."

I was cheerfully giving a link to and quoting a thread written by tankers, as a meaningful contribution to this forum. I've admitted from the start I am not knowledgeable about tanks, which is why I came here, and which is why others come here, so I can ask and they can share. So what's the point of saying I'm not a tanker? I don't get it. If you want to argue about it, go argue with the tankers who originally wrote the thread. They wrote it, and they are tankers, and that's their opinion.

As for the 'lugar-lager' joke, that's all it is, just a play on words. Someone suggested the US tankers made beer in their tanks in WWII. Someone else -a tanker- suggested getting a jerrycan and pouring it down the barrel of the main gun for a 'shower' to get 'clean tankers'. Come to think of it, now we've got another funny word association, 'tankers and tankards'. It's only a joke, and I'm not mocking anybody, least of all tankers, I'm respectfully following in the hallowed footsteps of the tankers who started it with the joking around about 'clean tankers'. : )