Are you stupid? how would having a massive target, with minmal armour at back, where the tank crew is = better protection. MAYBE it's you who doesn't quite understand the whole idea of armour protection - increase survivability.
BTW Einstein the reason they put the door at the back which still aint figured out is so soldiers can quickly escape. Israel highly value it' soldiers, not that many of them hard to replace. They would much rather have bust easily replaceable tanks than crew going down. So yes I do know why. Do you?
I am not denying that they care about their soldiers * but you for some reason don't believe that israeli tanks aren't most armored in the world. Seriously, if they were that low armored then palestineans should be taking them out all the time.
If taking out tanks is a comparison, then iranian militias with not so advanced weapons compared to hezbollah have taken them out. The reason you don't see a lot of such incidents is that iraqi shiites are basically in power and it is foolish for them to fight british or even americans as the country is theirs for the taking as soon as the western forces leave [more a matter of 'when'].*
You what? you do know a road side bomb is a little different to something flying in over the hill right?
All that the Iranians have done is give the Shias shaped charges, which is nothing new even RPG's have them. Just bigger in size obviously and they fire loads at once. Again aiming to get some penetration.
Are you stupid? how would having a massive target, with minmal armour at back, where the tank crew is = better protection. MAYBE it's you who doesn't quite understand the whole idea of armour protection - increase survivability.
BTW Einstein the reason they put the door at the back which still aint figured out is so soldiers can quickly escape. Israel highly value it' soldiers, not that many of them hard to replace. They would much rather have bust easily replaceable tanks than crew going down. So yes I do know why. Do you?
You're wrong. The reason why there is a door at the back is that unlike any other tank in the world, the Merkava is supposed to be able to also carry a small number of combat infantry soldiers inside. The rear door allows the soldiers to be covered by the body of the tank when they enter/leave.
In this way a platoon of Merkava tanks can carry a full infantry section without the need for relatively thin-skinned APCs to accompany them.
It also allows Merkavas to act as forward medical stations (when carrying surgeons) and command facilities (when carrying senior officer)
You're wrong. The reason why there is a door at the back is that unlike any other tank in the world, the Merkava is supposed to be able to also carry a small number of combat infantry soldiers inside. The rear door allows the soldiers to be covered by the body of the tank when they enter/leave.
In this way a platoon of Merkava tanks can carry a full infantry section without the need for relatively thin-skinned APCs to accompany them.
It also allows Merkavas to act as forward medical stations (when carrying surgeons) and command facilities (when carrying senior officer)
No I'm not. They where MODIFIED tanks for use in urban warfare. Dont tell me they designed a new tank to fight the Egyptians, or Syrains with the aim of being an ambulance?
No I'm not. They where MODIFIED tanks for use in urban warfare. Dont tell me they designed a new tank to fight the Egyptians, or Syrains with the aim of being an ambulance?
The Merkava was designed from the outset to have space for an additional 6 men inside the hull - even the unmodified Merkava Mark 1 tank has the infantry-carrying space inside. It didn't need any modification for this.
The goal of the additional space was not to act as an ambulance - it was for each tank to be able to carry its own infantry unit for security across terrain normally conduisive to close-range anti-tank ambush, be it hilly terrain (ie Golan Heights) or cities.
mark 4 was designed for golan. I suggest you read proper material on the design philosophy. removing a door would not decrease the internal space available massively, maybe 1 person.
^^ and you guys want further budget cuts on our Military....
Like I said, we only spend 4 Billion Dollars on our Military which is peanuts....
Iran spends around 11 Billion.
Our Defense Budget needs to be around 10 Billion.
For that to happen our economy needs to grow and more privatization needs to occur which frees up the government revenues to spend on other things such as civil servants, infrastructure and the military.
Cut the land deals, culture of batman, military's hand in every industry, expensive weapons platforms and we will have enough to spend on basic survival gear.