As the Israel-Hamas war continues, Israel is calling up its reserves. This is in response to the deadly assault by the terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7 that left over 1,400 Israelis dead. Hamas has also taken over 200 people hostage, from infants to octogenarians. Even though Israel might only have a population of roughly 9 million, and a total active military personnel of about 650,000, its available manpower for military service is more than one-third of its population. Combined, these troops will be filling a series of roles, including infantry, medics, pilots, and captaining military vehicles.
A military operation in Gaza without tanks or armored personnel would be even more costly for the Israelis, which is why they employ a range of vehicles and tanks specifically designed for urban environments. In terms of its land forces, Global FirePower ranks Israel within the top 20 nations in the world for tanks, military vehicles, and self-propelled artillery. As such, Israel is a formidable opponent in a land war. (These are the countries with the most artillery.)
To identify the armored vehicles in the modern Israeli military, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a catalog of armored vehicles from Military Factory. We ordered these vehicles according to when they entered service. We included supplemental data from Military Factory regarding the year introduced, type, country of origin, manufacturer, weight, top speed, and armament of each vehicle.
Many of the Israeli vehicles that are currently in use first entered the service in the 1980s and earlier. However, over the years, they have been upgraded and retooled to play different roles.
The Merkava (Chariot) has made a name for itself as Israel’s main battle tank, first introduced to the service in 1979. While it has been in service for just shy of half a century, there have been numerous iterations and upgrades over these long years. The newest model is the Barak, which is outfitted with a 120mm main gun as well as 12.7mm and 7.62mm machine guns. (These are the countries with the most tanks in 2023.)
The distinguishing feature of the Merkava is its forward mounted engine, which is an anomaly compared to most modern tanks. In this case, the engine acts as additional armor to protect the tank crew from a direct frontal hit. The modern Merkava tops out around 40 mph.
Israel is known for repurposing and reinventing its military vehicles for multiple roles. In fact, the Merkava chassis is used as an armored ambulance or “Tankbulance.” The M4 Sherman tank that draws its roots from World War II has also seen use by Israeli forces. The chassis for the M4 Sherman provides a basis for the Soltam M-68 howitzer as well as other guns within the Israeli arsenal. These variants of the M4 range in names but some of the most predominant are the Ro’em, MAR-240, and L-39.
Here is a look at the oldest and newest Israeli armored vehicles.
26. M4 Sherman (Ro’em and MAR-240 variants)
Year introduced: 1942
Type: Medium tank
Country of origin: United States
Manufacturer: State Factories
Weight: 31.3 tons base model (other variants are different)
Top speed: 24 mph
Armament: Various main guns and optional setups depending on the model including, .50 BMG Browning M2 anti-aircraft machine gun, .30-06 coaxial machine gun, .30-06 bow-mounted machine gun
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