Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1308154
an assumption that primary protection would be provided at an angle of +/- 30° in relation to the longitudinal axis of the MBT). Any projectile hitting the MBT first had to go through the front plate that was set at a significant angle (making it - in practical terms - much thicker), then, the penetrator or the shaped-charge blast energy either dissipated or disintegrated, after hitting the engine, the fuel tank, or the batteries. The additional rear plate was to catch any fragmentation. The hull with the engine in the front also had some deficiencies. It was bulky, thus - the vehicle was heavy. Merkavas are 7-8 tonnes heavier than their western counterparts, or even 18-22 tonnes heavier than the main battle tanks made in the USSR. Secondly, the integrity of the frontal armor, on the driver's side especially, was interrupted. The thermal signature of the vehicle, with the engine in the front, was much more signif- icant. The fire control system also suffered from some interference, caused by the exhaust and cooling systems. For the aforesaid reasons, the solution with the engine in the front has not been reused in any other modern main battle tank design. However, in the reality of the 1970s and 1980s, this choice was an optimal one, as it made it possible to compensate for the lack of relevant western-style special armor technologies. The turret of Merkava Mark 1 has been designed in a way that is to minimize the frontal picture, so that the sides are exposed to the front, not the frontal portion of the turret (only the indispensable elements can be included as a part of the front of the turret: the gun, the gun cover, cradle, and the machine gun). As a result, the frontal-side surfaces of the turret are set 25 deg opening towards the rear of the vehicle - and this significantly increases the relative (LOS) thickness of those surfaces. The top surface of the turret is arranged at an angle of 12 deg, starting from the top edge of the gun hood, to the crew hatches. The turret is based on cast steel that features welded joints, while the armor is based solely on spaced/modular design. The turret has been designed brilliantly, when it comes to its arrangement on a high vehicle, with an assumption that no advanced materials are used. Quite a good level of protection has been achieved, considering the primitive nature of the armor. The cast citadel has a varying thickness of the walls, with the sides being 65-70 mm thick, and the half-rounded base with the ring is around 80 mm thick. The cast front part of the turret has a specific design since its surface is formed by a variable thickness cast plate. Above the gun cradle, the plate is just 70 mm thick. Below, however, it creates a solid mount for the bearings, made out of 200 mm thick cast steel. Whereas, the elements of the plate ex- tend beyond the citadel, partially shielding the area in front of the main sight. This is not the end, as arrangements as such would not provide the citadel with sufficient protection. Additional two half-rounded base elements are lay- ered on top (80 mm thick), with the side portions of the turret brought around 40 mm up. Between the castings, at the side, a lot of extra cargo space has been arranged. This created a unique set of spaced arrangements that are formed by two layers of castings and empty space in between. For half-rounded cast metal elements, the layout at the base of the turret is arranged as follows: 80 mm of casting + gap + 80 mm of casting. This area is, at the same time, the weakest point of the turret. The front part of the turret (in parallel to the axis of the gun) features a small, well-shielded gun hood and light wedges that have walls that are 12 mm thick. These are empty and dissipate the shaped charge blast and act as a disruptor for the APDS penetrators. The relative thickness is 30-40 mm, depending on the measurement location. The aforesaid front plate of the turret is placed several centimeters from them - with variable thickness. At the top, the thickness is 70 mm, and 200 mm is the thickness at the bottom. The whole front part of the turret discussed above has a surface of around 0.8 square meters, being a challenging target. The rest of the turret is made out of the aforesaid metal castings. The top of the turret is made out of a 70 mm cast metal set at an angle of 12 degrees. It creates a relative thickness of 340 mm. This also caused the APDS and early APFSDS penetrators to ricochet. The turret sides are designed in a spaced arrangement. Perpendic- ularly to the side, the front portion of the turret is arranged as follows: 30-40 mm of casting, 220 mm gap (where ammunition, 60 mm mortar rounds or instrumentation can be stored) and these layers are followed by the citadel of the turret - with the thickness of around 70 mm. When one looks at Mer- kava from the front, the angled arrangement of the armor creates relative thicknesses as follows: 90 mm casting + 500 mm gap + 160-170 mm citadel www.fragoutmag.com