This is a Israeli tank built to Israeli needs for use by Israeli soldiers. Take this tank out of the Israeli area of operations and it will not perform as you would wish it to. However in the Israeli area of operations the Merkava is supreme. The Merkava has armour like no other tank in the world. The engine is to the front to increase the protection to thee crew in the event of a missile strike.

The newer incarnation on the Merkava (Mk 3)has a 1500 hp engine that gives it the mobility it was lacking in. The turret can traverse quickly to catch fleeting targets.

The Merkava is a combination of features from some of the best tanks of it's era. It's engine is that of an American M-60 tank, as is the transmission, road wheels are similar to those used by the Centurian.

The Mk 3 has a new 120mm main gun and carries 92 rounds of ammo and as many as 10,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammo for the 3 machine guns.

This huge tank (60 tonnes) is now in the same league as the M1A1 Abrams or the Challenger II main battle tanks.