Merkava Mk.3C

This page is about the Israeli medium tank Merkava Mk.3C. For other versions, see Merkava (Family).

Merkava Mk.3C

Merkava Mk.3C

Description

The Merkava Mk.3C was the second subvariant of the Merkava Mk.3. Produced from 1995, it received the new "Barak Zoher" fire control system, distinguished by the inclusion of a commander-independent sight on the turret roof. This addition gives the Merkava Mk.3C hunter-killer capabilities, a trait desperately needed in modern conflict. Other small upgrades, such as the insertion of composite screens into portions of the hull, were also implemented, mostly to defend the tank from RPGs and ATGMs launched from elevated positions.

Introduced in Update "Drone Age", the Merkava Mk.3C received yet another important upgrade: the commander's independent sight. With the addition of hunter-killer capabilities, players can search for possible adversaries while remaining behind low obstacles and rocky terrain. Furthermore, the commander can override controls for the main gun, allowing players to engage opponents more effectively. Together with the Merkava Mk.3B's improved weaponry, the Merkava Mk.3C is a truly modern main battle tank that combines outstanding situational awareness, protection, and firepower.

General info

Survivability and armour

Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade				1,860			__.__
Realistic				1,061			__.__

Armaments

Main armament

120 mm IMI MG251					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	46	-7°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane	32.4	44.8	54.4	60.2	64.0	7.80	6.90	6.36	6.00
Realistic					20.2	23.8	28.9	32.0	34.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
M325	HEATFS	480	480	480	480	480	480
M339	HE-TF	65	65	60	58	53	50
M322	APFSDS	589	586	577	565	553	541

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
M325	HEATFS	1,078	15.81	0.05	0.1	2.36	65°	72°	77°
M339	HE-TF	900	17	1.5	3	3.66	79°	80°	81°
M322	APFSDS	1,705	5.6	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Merkava Mk.3C

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
46	45 (+1)	43 (+3)	42 (+4)	24 (+22)	6 (+40)	1 (+45)	No

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	1,000 (200)	577	N/A	N/A

7.62 mm FN MAG 60-40
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	6,000 (200)	600	N/A	N/A
Pintle (loader)	1,800 (200)	600	-10°/+50°	±120°
Pintle (commander)	1,800 (200)	600	-10°/+50°	±120°

Usage in battles

The Merkava Mk.3C is virtually the same vehicle as the previous Mk.3B aside from the new commander optics and can be used identically. With sluggish mobility, inconsistent protection, and a punchy gun, the Merkava is best used as a sniper in entrenched positions where its good damage control makes it difficult to dislodge and its high-velocity, high-mass APFSDS can make short work of exposed targets. Be careful of sustained combat because the ready rack can be depleted very quickly and the Merkava's large size and unmistakable profile tend to attract attention. The quartet of machine guns and time-fused HE shell offer a measure of anti-helicopter capability against rushing and hovering helicopters, respectively.

The commander sight doesn't have a thermal imager and can't be considered a major improvement in itself, but it does open up some new opportunities in combat. With two-plane stabilization and improved fields of view compared to the previous basic periscope, the commander's ability to override the main gun becomes much more viable. It also helps that the commander sight is placed very close to the gunner's sight, reducing the amount of added parallax in Sim battles. Though it's not a very common situation to lose the gunner from incoming fire but not the commander, having a credible way to fire back when damaged further improves the Merkava's survivability.

A small quirk worth noting with the increased relevance of the commander override is that using the laser rangefinder in the commander's sight does not prime the time fuse of the M339 HE-TF shell. This means that the commander override can't take advantage of the airburst feature, but makes it slightly easier to use M339 as a direct-impact weapon at long distances. In exchange for lower optical zoom and a bit of uncertainty due to parallax, there is no need to switch to a different shell type and back (which might be forgotten in the heat of battle or impossible if APFSDS and HEAT are depleted) after ranging to clear the time fuse as would be required in the gunner's sight.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good armor against most HEAT and some APFSDS rounds

• Excellent post-penetration survivability with good ammo storage and crew layout
• Generous quantity of smoke grenades
• APFSDS round is one of the best sabot rounds for the battle rating

Cons:

• Overall armor layout is vulnerable to APFSDS, able to be penetrated with ease from most places
• Mediocre mobility
• Large/tall profile, easily spotted

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Merkava Mk.3C from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.