Modelling > Land
Merkava Tank Ideas and Inspiration
Rickshaw:
Problem with both a Sturmgeschutz and/or an S-tank style hull gun on the Merkava is the location of the engine. It precludes a low, hull mounted gun and then you lose most of the point of having one, which is a substantially lower silhouette over a normal, turreted MBT. The best you could hope for would be rather like a Ferdinand/Elephant style Panzerjaeger - a fixed casement at the rear of the hull where the gun compartment would be. In order to take advantage of reverse hulldown positions it would also have to be as high or even higher than a conventional turret (or have an open or "cleft" compartment). So, its just as easy to go with a conventional turret.
Another matter is of course that such tank-destroyers/assault guns are essentially the result of a defensive mind-set. Something the Israeli Armoured Corps could never be accused of, particularly since the 1967 war!
However, there is another option which the Israelis haven't really explored yet with the Merkava. A modular system with easily transferred hull modules. One as an MBT, one as a HAPC, another as an SPG, etc. Built all on the same assembly line, you get economies of scale and so cheaper production costs. For the army, it gets versatility. You need more HAPCs? Simply swap out some of your MBTs for HAPC modules. More MBTs? Swap out some of your HAPC modules and so on and so on.
raafif:
HAPC based on obsolete Merk.Mk.1.
GTX_Admin:
Now put a VLS in that and things get interesting.
AGRA:
--- Quote from: GTX_Admin on June 16, 2012, 05:09:14 AM ---Playing with this idea a bit more, how about a Strv-103 styled Tank Destroyer based upon the Namer? Stick a honking big gun out the front. Alternatively, go for the Raketenjagdpanzer style approach and do an Anti-tank Namer armed with Rafael Spike missiles...
--- End quote ---
What about something like the Archer 17 Pounder with the gun pointing in the opposite direction to forward motoring. Because the Merkava has the engine and driver in the front the gun would not have to be mounted above the engine but rather out the back door. So you have a very low vehicle which is ideal for ambush and rapid escape.
The Namer S-Tank would work because its hull is much higher than a Merkava providing enough clearance over the engine. But rather than a tank destroyer maybe this could be an urban demolition vehicle like the Sturmtiger. The ordnance could be the short barrel 203mm from the M115 howitzer and the early M110 SP howitzers. The 90 kg (200 lbs) HE shell could penetrate 1m of concrete fired 50 feet away or 1.5m at point blank (9 feet). But there would have to be some train and elevation for the ordnance because the Namer hull could not be pointed with the same accuracy as the S-Tank for a fixed gun.
Weaver:
One of the concepts behind the original Merkava design was to have a turret with minimum frontal area to reduce sillouette when firing from a hull-down position. How about updating that, using modern technology, by having a tank hunter with an externally-mounted, remote controlled gun?
The Merk is ideal for this because it has that bit of extra space in the back of the hull. In the tankhunter, the commander and gunner sit right at the back of the hull, side-by-side, just inside the rear door. The turret "basket" area then consists of an armoured drum containing a T-72-style "carousel" magazine, but with four layers (2 x projectile, 2 x charge), with an auto-loader feeding rounds to an overhead gun that would look a bit like the Stryker MGS weapon. The gunner and commander's primary vision would be TV cameras, fixed and rotating respectively, on top of the gun mount, but they'd also have direct vision periscopes in the hull roof for all-round vision and emergency backup.
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