Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1308154
casting. This formed an impressive spaced armor arrangement. At the same time, the area below the primary sight was additionally reinforced with steel plates. The targeting system was placed in a recessed portion of the casting. Assessing the turret protection levels is convoluted. The lack of West- ern-style special armor forced the Israeli to use a primitive spaced layout, the lack of technologies within the scope of metal processing available at the local industry, meanwhile, created a necessity to use steel castings. On the other hand, the protection levels were very good, given the materials used. The Tal & Tilan duo masterfully solved the problems by adopting a paradigm of creating as small a turret as possible, with front surfaces inclined at a maximum angle available. This has been made possible thanks to the design layout with an engine in the front, and a very tall hull, housing most of the turret hardware and the crew. The relative protection levels have not been homogeneous - for the APDS and APFSDS, it was 160 mm of RHA at the weakest point of the turret (half-rounded base), through 250-300 mm of RHA at the front of the turret, up to 340 mm of RHA for the top portion of the turret. The side protection level, with angles of around 20 degrees, was lower - relative 200 mm and less, but still decent, given the materials and technol- ogies applied. Protection against shaped charges was higher - 450 - 500 mm when it comes to warheads manufactured at the time, in relation to the front part of the turret, except for its half-spherical base that offered much lower levels of protection (less than half of the estimated value). The hull protection (with the body being huge) was a serious problem. A huge hull was easy to hit. However, the armor adopted was not homogeneous. The lower front steel-cast plate was 80 mm thick. Behind it, one could find two small fuel tanks followed by the drivetrain. Based on the Soviet analysis of the layout known from the Merkava MBT, one may assume that the engine compartment in the front creates an extra layer of protection equivalent to 158-174 mm against sabot rounds and 420-475 mm against shaped-charge warheads. The engine compartment is closed with a thin 10 mm bulkhead featuring inspection hatches. As a result of the above, the front part of the hull offered protection of 250-300 mm of steel against APDS and APFSDS rounds. In the case of the shaped-charge ammunition, the protection lev- el was equivalent to 550-600 mm of steel, a very good result, given the period when Merkava was designed. However, the real problem emerged in the case of the top engine cover on the hull, and when it came to the area in front of the driver. Neither the engine nor the drive system provides extra protection here. The issue was resolved - the plate covering the engine from the top was raised, shielding the tur- ret bearing area. Again, the ingenuity of the design has been brilliant here - the turret is placed 10-15 cm lower than the top engine plate, with that plate shielding the turret bearing area. The area in front of the driver was the only weaker point. The plate in front of the driver has a thickness of 60 mm. This creates, at the angle of 15 degrees, a relative thickness of 220 mm. The driver's seat is placed in a "booth" embedded within the hull structure - the front wall has 20-40 mm thickness. This means that the driver protection is at a level below 300 mm when it comes to kinetic and HEAT rounds. The plate placed over the engine, meanwhile, offered excellent protection. Inclined at the angle of 20 degrees at the bottom and 15 degrees at the top it forms a recognizable bulge above the engine, protecting the turret bearing. The plate is 80 mm thick. Due to the angle at which it is set (and this angle is variable) its relative thickness is 230 mm at the bottom and up to 310 mm in the area that is bulged, over the fans assembly. Due to the angle and thickness of the plate over the engine, ricocheting APDS rounds could be the case here, if that plate is hit. In case of HEAT, ATGM, or RPG-7 munitions, even without a ricochet, with blast shockwave being formed, the blast would need to penetrate 300 mm of steel of the top engine plate to hit...not the turret bearing but the semi-circular armor at the turret base, with a total thickness of around 200 mm (including 160 mm casting). This means that around 500 mm of steel would need to be penetrated. Apart from the spaced armor, Merkava Mk. 1 also had numerous additional features enhancing the level of safety for the crew. The ammunition was not stored in the turret. The 105 mm rounds are stored solely within the hull. 6 are placed on a rack next to the loader, VEHICLES