Merkava: Top of the tank line?

from " novosti " and keeping in mind than officers are by and large insane
and very rarely competents

"The experts said that in accusing Russia of indirect support for the other side, politicians fail to realize that they admit their helplessness and discredit their own weapons and combat hardware. The Merkava tank has always been considered invincible in Israel. The Israelis were proud of its design and its upgraded reactive armor. They claimed it was the best tank in the world. Tactically, the Israeli army has used it very skillfully in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Merkavas entered rural districts only when they were supported by helicopters, and had direct and stable communication with them.

But, apparently, there are not enough helicopters for tank support on Lebanese territory. The crew of any tank can see very little. They do not know what is happening on the sides or in the back. It is an easy target for any militant, who can hide in the bushes or behind a jamb. He does not need to attack a Merkava from the front, where it does indeed have excellent protection. He can hit it from the side, the rear, or the space between the running gear - any tank has many vulnerable spots. Perfect weapons simply do not exist. "


the weapon involved can be checked on wikipedia , just type ...RPG-29...
the specs are simply frightening and the damn thing cost 500 bucks
it's nickname said it all ... vampires

:bang: :bang:



'

 

The RPG-29 now has two top-of-the-line tanks in its trophy cabinet...
The T-80U
The Merkava

I don't think its so much a case of the Merkava being crap as the RPG-29 being good... it was designed to punch through ERA and that it does most efficiently; on the firing range it is even quite successful against ERA equipped T-90's... the M1A2 and the chally II are just lucky they havent met an RPG-29 yet

 

The M1A2 probably has - at least one has been penetrated by a 'mysterious weapon' in Iraq, thought to be an RPG-29

 

I read that the 'mysery penetration' was made by a common RPG-7, firing a very modern PG7 anti tank round...
I think its not so much the launcher that matters but the Warhead... the RPG-7 and the RPG-29 are both re-usable but some launchers are disposable... like the LAW launcher and the RPG-27... does anyone know the benefits of having a disposable launcher???

 

The weapon itself is lighter, but a bit less practical IIRC

 

Interesting piece of news from Slovene military magazine Obramba (defence).

Jardanians will start producing new RPG-32 (105mm) under the name Hashim. It will be joint project with Russian firm Bazalt (also known as original designer and producer of RPG-7) and Jordanians. Producer will be joint venture firm JRESCO (Jordanian-Russian Electronic Systems Company). System itself is in final stages of testing (according to article tests should be concluded this month). Factory will be situated in town of Zarqua. All key subsystems ( optical sights, warheads) will imported from Russia.

RPG-32 has two subsystems:
Lounching tube for repeated use (up to 200 lounchses), with optical sight that allowes efective use for ranges up to 700m.

Warhead of 105mm, has AT tandem(double?) shaped charge warhead capable of penetrating 700mm RHA (Rolled Homogenous Armour) or thermabaric warhead against infantry and softer targets. Weight of warhead approx. 6kg, entire system with tube around 10kg.

 

What a surprise! Modern MBTs can be destroyed by RPGs! Not so high and mighty now, are you, Merkava! And as for that M1A2 incident, CURSE YOU, IRAQIS!!!!! Tryin' to make the Americans and their awesome tanks look bad by destroying one with an RPG-7 is your lowest trick yet. Heck, that Abrams probably already got dunked in acid.

 

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A quoted accuracy of 700m for a shoulder lauched missile is fantasy

on a fixed support they would be lucky to get 100 yards







.

 

I don't think there has ever been a tank that was immune to RPGs... the fact that Merkavas where destroyed by them does not disprove their excellence.

 

realy? how do you figure that out? the law 80 has a range of 500/600m and its old!

 

I never thought in my life that infantry units could have something capable of destroying a tank. Sigh. I always thought that infantry was the weakest type of army unit and needed artillery or armor to back them up when faced with enemy armor. Who would have thought that the RPG could destroy modern MBTs. Well now that I know, why are tanks still around. If RPGs can destroy them, no problemo, then tanks should be retired? It'd save money. But, then again, there's that Trophy thing in development...

 

Since tanks first saw combat there has been a drive to arm the infantry with something to defeat these armoured behemoths. This trend has continued into modern days with many countries. Besides the RPG series, there's the AT-4, Dragon, TOW (my favorite), Milan, and many more.

 

This has been debated a lot recently. The baseline seems to be that the tank offers a unique blend of mobility, firepower & protection. Yes, they can be taken out by an infantryman with an RPG (or similar), but that is why tanks always operate in co-ordination with friendly infantry, so that they can kill off the enemy infantry, while the tanks kill off enemy tanks and strongpoints (they can do this at greater ranges and with more chance of success than RPGs can). Combined arms. It works well.

 

I see. Lesson learned: think strategically. And I like the Dragon the best. I mean, it's got the coolest name. What can I say?

 

Unfortunately cool names do not improve performance.
The M-47 Dragon was first depolyed in 1970 (so 1960's technology) and, although it has been improved since then, is still criticised for requiring excessive gunner control, inaccuracy in general, and some early versions suffered recurrent rocket thruster failure.

For cool names, if thats your only criteria, how about the AGM-114 Hellfire or the FGM-148 Javelin?


Tom

 

Novosti article about accusations of RPG-29 Vampir used in Lebanon:
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060811/52523923.html

:lol:

(Text written in bold characters was "bolded" by me)

All i can say is that as in my reserve infantry squad AT rocket gunner i would realy like to try Vampir (my weapon is being phased out and now i'm just notmal infantryman).

 

Cool names are NOT my only criteria, although my other criteria may not matter that much sometimes in making a favorites decision though. And I believe the Hellfire is a very effective weapon. That's another fav.

 

Hello jdbuk , the range of the venerable rpg-9 is quoted as 1200m
' after wich it self explode . it's accuracy as hitting reliably better than 50%
a 1m square from a kneeling position is about 50m , anybody who does
better must have a hell of a lot of practice .

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So Israel is pissed off at Russia for indirectly supplying Hizbollah with an RPG-29 Vampire... Why is no mention made of Hizbollah posessing thousands of US made M-16's? which accounted for most of Israel's military casualties?
Go figure

 

Becouse they can't blame USA for failing in Lebanon. At least not with USA supplying planes, bombs, fuel, .... and a lot of cash of US taxpayers in form of US foreign aid to Israel. Even Israelis are smarter than to bite the hand that feeds them.