Israeli Tank Regarded With Pride
Fri Feb 15, 4:58 PM ET
By JACK KATZENELL, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) - Many experts consider the Merkava-3 the world's most protected tank but it was no match for a 110-pound bomb planted by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip this week.
The bomb tore apart the 60-ton tank, killing three soldiers and wounding a fourth. It was the first time the Merkava, the pride of the Israeli armored corps, had ever been destroyed and it heightened Israel's sense of vulnerability.
Even Hezbollah guerrillas, who are much better trained and equipped than Palestinians militants, did not succeed in destroying a Merkava in 18 years of fighting against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah frequently used roadside bombs, mines and guided anti-tank missiles against Israeli armored vehicles. In one attack on the Israeli-Lebanese border, an Israeli soldier was killed in April when Hezbollah fired a Sagger missile that damaged the turret of a Merkava.
The Gaza attack occurred Thursday evening, when a bomb went off as a convoy carrying Israeli settlers was passing. None of the settlers was hurt but the explosion enabled Palestinians to lure the tank into a trap.
Alerted by the first explosion, the tank raced to the rescue along a farm track running parallel to the road on which the convoy was traveling. In the process it ran over a huge bomb buried in the track.
The engine, which is in the front of the tank, was blown upward by the force of the blast, smashing into the gun barrel and flipping the turret off like a bottle top, killing the soldiers.
Israelis were shocked. Extremely sensitive to casualties among the troops, they had been told the $3 million Merkava gives more protection to its crew than any other tank in the world.
Rupert Pengelly, a senior editor at the London-based Jane's Information Group, said this is generally true. The Merkava is the only battle tank with the engine in front of the turret, to give the crew extra protection against enemy fire from the front, he said.
The cannon shells are not stored in the turret but inside the hull at the back, and the fuel is also at the rear, not adjacent to the engine, Pengelly said.
However, the underside of the Merkava, like that of all main battle tanks, is the least protected. This is because the weight must not exceed about 60 tons for the tank to cross bridges and be transported on flattop trucks.
Yet even on the underside, "the Israeli tank is arguably slightly better protected than anybody else's," Pengelly said.
If the same bomb had struck the Amercan M1 Abrams, the British Challenger or the German Leopard, the ammunition and fuel would certainly have exploded, Israeli military officials said. In the case of the Merkava, it did not. Pengelly said the Merkava has a very advanced fire suppression system.
Nevertheless, for the Israelis, who have been engaged in a bloody conflict with Palestinian militants for the past 16 months, with no end in sight, the destruction of the massive tank was ominous.
If the Palestinians could destroy one Merkava, presumably they could destroy others. "It's a sign of things to come," said opposition leader Yossi Sarid.