Merkava Tank

The Merkava, Hebrew for chariot, is the main battle tank of the Israel Defense Forces, developed under the leadership of Major General Israel Tal and first entering service in 1979 as Israel's own domestically designed and produced tank following lessons learned from heavy Israeli armor losses in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Its most distinctive design feature is a rear-mounted engine and front-mounted transmission, an unusual layout for a main battle tank that places the powerplant between the crew and the most likely direction of incoming fire and opens a rear hatch usable for casualty evacuation or additional ammunition and infantry, reflecting a design philosophy that prioritizes crew survivability over the layout conventions used by most other tank-producing nations. Successive Merkava variants have been continuously upgraded with improved armor, active protection systems designed to intercept incoming anti-tank missiles and rockets, and better firepower, and the tank has seen extensive combat use in Israel's conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza in the decades since its introduction.