WineCape Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 Anyone here in the know if the Merkava Mk. IV is currently supplied with and able to fire the Lahat Laser Guided missile? LAHAT [ July 24, 2006, 06:11 AM: Message edited by: WineCape ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 WineCape, Kudos for finding and posting that! A superb article featuring not only a renowned heavily published armor writer and defense analyst (Zaloga), but he's also a master modeler. See the Galleries here for delicious proof www.missing-lynx.com The LAHAT is a nasty bit of kit, and I agree that the Israelis are past masters at reengineering systems other people first built. Back around the time of the Lebanon War, U.S. defense experts got to look at an Israeli F-16 in detail and concluded that the only real commonality with ours was that it still looked like an F-16. At the black box level, practically everything had been replaced, essentially making it a new airplane with capabilities ours lacked. IMI also developed and fielded a TOW warhead which could kill the T-72 frontally. The standard TOW back then would've bounced. The story about this ran in AEROSPACE DAILY and shocked many people when I told them about it. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WineCape Posted July 24, 2006 Author Share Posted July 24, 2006 Hello John, I've read the Merkava 4 is capable of firing the 120mm LAHAT duplex warhead ATGM. I've seen Merkava 3's test firing LAHAT's too. Since the Mk. IV was only introduced a couple of years ago, it should make sense that the Israelian LAHAT (missile development started in the earlier 90's) should accomodate the IDF latest MBT? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 WineCape, What are you--a closet defense analyst? Don't know where you happened to see what you describe, but am grateful regardless. Nor can I fault your logic. And did you know that back during the 1980s, in combat exercises using MILES (high end laser weapon simulator) gear, it was found that several A-10s were "downed" by tank main gun fires? Seeing mission tapes of helicopters blasted out of the sky while in low hover was no surprise, but this sure was. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WineCape Posted July 25, 2006 Author Share Posted July 25, 2006 ...Don't know where you happened to see what you describe...Scroll 2/3rds down this page. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 WineCape, Good stuff and a meaty, well illustrated article! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixon_el Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 No FRH hydralic system, that would be a huge plus that the US needs to follow. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 dixon_el, What's FRH, please? I distinctly remember that after reports of turret fires involving burning hydraulic fluid on U.S. supplied M-60s during the Yom Kippur War, the U.S. got religion on this issue and rapidly developed and fielded fluids which wouldn't burn, or somesuch. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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