3/26/2023 0 Comments Wargame red dragon marine deck![]() They were used as late as the 1982 invasion of Lebanon - though not by Israel! They were used by the PLO, who'd captured them from Christian Lebanese militias in the Lebanese Civil War, who'd received them as military aid from Israel. The Isherman stayed in use with reserve units until the early 1980s. Internationally, these tanks have become known as the "Super Sherman", with the M-51 the "Isherman" (Israeli Sherman). ![]() A second, later upgrade project took the concept further and mounted a French Modelé F1 105 mm gun (the same that was used on the AMX-30) in the turret of a 76mm Sherman, and mated it to the M-50 hull. The result was the Sherman M-50, distinguished by being a Sherman tank with a 75 mm high-velocity gun. They also received new VVSS suspension and better engines. The IDF ran a project in 1954-1955 to upgrade their M4 Shermans (of WWII vintage), which entailed giving them the same guns Israel at the time was using on their brand new AMX-13 light tanks. ![]() It can launch HE and armour-piercing cluster-munitions up to a range of 45 km. It comprises 36 launch tubes for 160 mm rockets on an AMX-13 hull. In Lebanon this was primarily used to evacuate crews from mission-killed tanks and wounded, but it was later used to deploy special forces into urban war zones, even carry regular infantry squads! By sacrificing about half the ammo, the Merkava has space for about 4 soldiers - by going down to a mere 12-ish shells it can carry a whole squad of eight! One peculiar feature of the Merkava series in general is that the ammo compartment can be partially emptied to allow infantry to ride in the back. The version depicted is also armed with a counter-sniper system a Browning M2HB slaved to the main gun. The Mk 2 Bet is armed with a 105 mm M68 (a copy of the Royal Ordnance L7 gun), a coaxial FN MAG, an FN MAG in an AA mount for the commander, and an internal 60 mm mortar. The Mk 2 Bet improves on this again with yet another upgrade to the FCS and thermals. The Merkava Mk 2 improved upon the Mk 1 greatly a new and better FCS which could account for wind and meteorological data, chains on the rear turret to catch and detonate RPG rounds before the could penetrate, a mortar that could be fired and reloaded without exposing the crew, improved turret armour, better optics, thermal sights, and a fully automatic transmission. However, the Merkava Mk 1 has certain deficiencies, including a shot trap that could easily jam the turret, and a mortar that the crew had to be exposed to reload. This allows it to have a rear door for evacuating the crew, and allows the engine to soak up hits that would otherwise have penetrated into crew compartments - should anything penetrate its already considerable hull armour. The Mk 1, in the spirit of offering the ultimate crew protection, places the engine in front rather than in the rear. The Merkava Mk 1 was Israel's first domestic tank - in many ways a mix of US M60 (which the IDF had droves of) and British Chieftain (which the IDF received two test models of for evaluation, before the purchase was blocked by the UK). ![]() In return for this greatly increased protection, the Nagmachon trades firepower it only mounts a pair of FN MAGs. ![]() This gives the personnel excellent vision, and allows them to dismount under the protection of the superstructure, as you can see here. The Nagma chon is a late-80's development of the concept, with extra ERA plating and the elevated "doghouse" superstructure you can clearly see. As a stop-gap measure, Nagmasho'ts were given gun shields for their machine guns (not depicted). It also had some rather severe drawbacks, one of which was that infantry had to dismount out the top, exposing them to enemy fire. They were typically armed with FN MAGs, Mk 19 grenade machine guns, and M2HB Browning machine guns, and could carry eight dismount infantry. In 1984 they developed the Nagmasho't APC, which were IDF Centurion tanks with the turret replaced with space for a dismount squad, and usually up-armoured with ERA plates. The IDF up-armoured their M3 Halftracks and their M113's, but after taking heavy losses in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the IDF saw the need for an even heavier APC. The IDF has always heavily valued survivability and protection of their troops, which places a requirement on their transports. ![]()
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