Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!lll-winken!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!tridom!atssc!fang!att!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: shahar@shum.huji.ac.il (shahar BROVENDER) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Merkava MBT Message-ID: <1991Jun27.021503.5043@cbnews.cb.att.com> Date: 27 Jun 91 02:15:03 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.cb.att.com (william.a.thacker) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 29 Approved: military@att.att.com From: shahar BROVENDER First, the BIG, SLOW claim - Merkava is BIG (almost 62 tons, too), but NOT very slow. It has a power/weight ratio of 1/19.2 in the Mk III version. True, this is not the 1/23.7 of the M1A1, but quite good, nevertheless especially since it is heavier. Additionally, the Merkava carries a greater weapon variety than the M1, namely the 120mm main gun, 1 coax and 1 commander MG's and a 60mm mortar. Thrid, the Merkava has elliminated one of the greatest fire hazrds (esp. in M60A1) - the turret is traversed electronically. I am not sure how the traverse mechanism is designed in M1, but the Merkava design team had to artificially slow the traverse. Front protection of the Merkava is (in my opinion) the best in the world - it is better to be fired at through armour and engine than armour alone. A problem of Mk I was fixed - the rear turret overhang provided a missile funnel. Marc A. Volovic via Shahar Brovender :wq