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alanch90

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  1. This produced 3 KIA, its a miracle it wasn´t 4 considering that even the hull flipped over.
  2. Any company can file its patent in as many countries as it wishes, if you want to know the previous or original filing, you have to check the "Priority" section of the front of the patent. In this case you can see the number it got assigned when it was filed previously in Israel in 2004. Why would Rafael fil this patent so fast? Well, its a pattern from them as I got a series of patents that got filed pretty much at the same time said armor technology started to be fielded in a tank for service. Same case with the patent disclosing NxRA/SLERA that we knew for years. Now, why would they do that? Because they start offering that technology to the market as soon as they can: another of the aspects that I will explain in a future part is that Merkava 4 armor technology made its way to American Bradleys in the form of BRAT (and thats all I´ll say for the moment about this). Indeed there is no direct and explicit detailing on the composition of the Orlite armor plates that we see inside Merkava 4 modules. However all the materials stated as necessary in the patent are part of that list. Could be coincidence but it would be a pretty big one. Depends on how you define a stretch. If someone claimed that Merkava 4 was required to have protection against rounds that wouldn´t even exist for the next 10 years, then I would say thats certainly a stretch. KEW-A1 started being offered 4 years before the first Merkava 4 was manufactured. IDF had all the reasons an army can have to require such protection level. That the patent's described threats align so precisely with KEW-A1´s characteristics is a particularly compelling indicator. Ultimately what we really need is a better look into the interior of the modules and see what is what but we are decades away from this at least.
  3. I found a patent published by Rafael back in 2005 and I´m convinced its describing (part of) Merkava 4 armor. https://alanscave.blogspot.com/2025/01/understanding-merkava-4-armor.html
  4. More like someone is getting bribed to scam a third.
  5. On a separate note, I´m looking for a specific old picture showing Merkava 4 turret armor. Do you remember one where the vertical covers of the armor module had some sort of slits? Do you happen to have that picture?
  6. Confirmed. It mirrors the incident back from October almost 1:1. 3 KIA, turret toss and missing front armot module. Slight correction, the front module is in place but partially buried. The side armor module is missing. https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan-news/defense/845416/
  7. 3 Merkava 4 crewmen (401st Brigade) from the same tank were confirmed KIA yesterday. The tank was either heavily damaged or destroyed by a large IED. This marks the second such incident since October last year.
  8. A Namer. Dating the footage would be interesting since it should be an APC from the Givati brigade and I´m not sure if they are deployed in Gaza at the moment.
  9. I was going through a Korean blog and found a piece of a presentation back from 2022 or 2023. It specifies South Korea´s long term tank development. First thing of notice is that "K3" is indeed an official designation for SK´s next tank platform, a whole new clean sheet design featuring an unmanned turret and hybrid electric engine based on hydrogen fuel cells. What I find most interesting about this material is that it also describes an interim tank between the current K2 (K2 PIP is not listed as a separate tank here) and K3, being K2A1. That tank is a heavily modified K2 featuring an unmanned turret and the crew sitting in a front hull `capsule` ala T-14. Also from phase 2 it states the intention of using manned tanks in combination with UGVs and drones. All in all its a pretty logical progression path.
  10. His pro KMDB bias s so funny. Somehow 6TD would be less "archaich" than 2V-12 when the opposite is true. That without mentioning that 6TD is a much less powerful engine with less torque. In other words, not ideal for a brand new platform that needs to have a lot of capability (and weight) growth potential.
  11. A new Tiran for Latrun collection
  12. Arranging the moving armor elements as flyer plates makes sense if you base your armor on reactive materials that release energy violently. And yes, they are present also (but no wth the same geometry) on the turret front modules as well.
  13. Look closer.
  14. Never seen the flyer plates on the UFP and fender modules this clearly before
  15. Strange thy didn´t just target the radars, those can´t be protected. If the Merkava platform is going to see further development and the requirements for its APS capabilities get more demanding I would adopt an Iron Fist variant to deal with longer ranged threats (ATGMs, APFSDS) and a secondary distributed APS kinda like StrikeShield for ultra quick short range threat reaction. I hope someday we get some clarity on Trophy performance in war. The multiple destroyed or heavily damaged Merkava 4Ms during Oct 7th pose a lot of questions.
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