Seventh Armoured Brigade of Israeli army will be equipped with Merkava IV Trophy tanks 2910141

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IDF Israel Defense Forces
 
 
Wednesday, October 29, 2014 01:16 PM
 
Seventh Armoured Brigade of Israeli army will be equipped with Merkava IV Trophy tanks.
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Seventh Armoured brigade is in the midst of a modernization process that will see all tank battalions equipped with the Merkava Mark IV tank by 2016, a senior army source said Tuesday, October 28, 2014. The seventh brigade’s Fourth Battalion is an engineering corps unit, and the brigade is also supplemented by a specialized infantry company that travels in armored vehicles.
     
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Seventh Armoured brigade is in the midst of a modernization process that will see all tank battalions equipped with the Merkava Mark IV tank by 2016, a senior army source said Tuesday, October 28, 2014. The seventh brigade’s Fourth Battalion is an engineering corps unit, and the brigade is also supplemented by a specialized infantry company that travels in armored vehicles.
Soldiers from the reconnaissance company of the 7th Armored Brigade during their baret march.
     

The brigade’s 75th Battalion will complete the switch from the Merkava Mark II tank to the Mark IV on Thursday, and an additional two tank battalions will complete the process within two years, he added.

The tanks will come equipped with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ Trophy active protection against anti-tank missile attacks, making them suitable for combat in areas infested with guerrilla cells armed with anti-tank missiles, such as in Lebanon against Hezbollah, according to the source.

Elements of the Seventh Armored Brigade, which took part in Operation Protective Edge against Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza this summer, have returned to northern Israel, where they are training and applying some of the lessons learned in this summer’s conflict.

Lebanon is the prime arena being simulated in drills, the officer confirmed, adding that the brigade is training for the event of a sudden eruption of conflict with Hezbollah.

The new tank will also provide a better defense of military units gathering in staging areas prior to an assault.

Next year, the seventh brigade’s 77th Battalion will receive the Merkava Mark IV, and after it, the 88th Battalion is next.

The new platform is already influencing training, particularly in drills involving the simulation of maneuvers deep in enemy territory, the source said.
     
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Seventh Armoured brigade is in the midst of a modernization process that will see all tank battalions equipped with the Merkava Mark IV tank by 2016, a senior army source said Tuesday, October 28, 2014. The seventh brigade’s Fourth Battalion is an engineering corps unit, and the brigade is also supplemented by a specialized infantry company that travels in armored vehicles.
Israeli Army Merkava IV main battle tank with Trophy active protection system
     

The Merkava IV represents the third evolution of the Merkava main battle tank family. The tank is capable of carrying eight infantry soldiers, a command group or three litter patients (stretcher casualties) in addition to the tank crew of commander, loader, gunner and driver. The tank is capable of firing on the move at moving targets and has demonstrated high hit probability in firing against attack helicopters using conventional anti-tank munitions.

Main armament is a 120 mm smoothbore gun developed by Israel Military Industries that is a further development of that installed in the Merkava Mk 3. The Merkava Mk4 can fire a full range of 120mm ammunition types, including 120mm APFSDS-FS (kinetic) rounds, and their training derivatives, HEAT (hollow-charge) types and anti-personnel/anti-material ammunitions.

The Trophy defense system was developed by Iron Dome developer and manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and was first used in late 2010. The system has since been declared operational, and is installed on Merkava 4 tanks, the latest generation of main battle tanks in the IDF Armored Corps fleet, and on the Namer APCs (APCs built on a Merkava tank frame). According to reports from the front, since the beginning of the ground operation Operation Protective Edge, the system has successfully intercepted five anti-tank missiles that were aimed at armored IDF vehicles in Gaza.

Trophy is a situational awareness and Active Protection Hard Kill (HK) System (APS) which is available in two main configurations: HV-MV (Heavy and Medium Armored Vehicle) and LV (Light Armored Vehicle). Trophy-HV protects heavy (>30 ton) and medium weight (>15 ton) armored vehicles from a wide variety of threats ranging from rockets, ATGMs and platform-fired High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds.