08 September 2006

Merkava 5 in South Lebanon?

I came across a blog:

http://peace4palestine-housewife4palestine.blogspot.com/2006/08/israeli-merkava-tanks-fail-to-rise-to.html ( The page was taken down yesterday, some people just can't be shown to be wrong. )

It insisted that Israel used Merkava 2, 3 & 5s in South Lebanon recently.

Wrong! There is no such thing as a Merkava 5. The Merkava Mk4 is latest development.

Do a web search for Merkava 5, you will get some results. But there is no proof of it's existence. It appears that a Merkava 5 may have been in development, dropped for budget reasons in 2004. But this is not verifiable!

No Merkava 5 has ever been produced, nor is there any available drawings to indicate any development.

References:

http://www1.idf.il/DOVER/site/mainpage.asp?sl=EN&id=6&clr=1&subject=22961&bScope=false

http://www.acpr.org.il/English-Nativ/04-issue/fishbein-4.htm

05 September 2006



Have a look at this picture.



http://www.independence05.com/blog/uploaded_images/2006-08MerkavadestroyedinSouthofLebanon-785731.jpg


I've seen it in a number of places, one is here:

http://www.independence05.com/blog/

It states: 'This picture was taken in the south of Lebanon during the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, and it shows the Merkava destroyed, this laminated steel/nickel armored tank has been used thoroughly by IDF in their battle against Hezbollah resistence in south Lebanon. '

'shows the Merkava ' Wrong! It's not a Merkava, it's a Magach 7C, a modified M60 Patton! Much older than the Merkavas used this year in Lebanon.

' This picture was taken in the south of Lebanon during the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah ' Wrong! Magachs were not used in Lebanon in July 2006. The tanks used were Merkava mks II, III and IVs.

The Magach was not destroyed by enemy action. It's laying on it's side, no AT weapons will flip a tank of over 50 tons onto it's side! Also you will see in the picture Israeli service men just standing on the road, why would they do that in a combat zone?

References:

http://www.armyrecognition.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=630

http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/vehicles/tanks/magach/Magach_7_Photos.htm

http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000127813&fid=1725