Merkava Mk.3B
| This page is about the Israeli medium tank Merkava Mk.3B. For other versions, see Merkava (Family). |
Contents
Description
The Merkava Siman 3 Bet is a rank VII Israeli medium tank with a battle rating of 11.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Danger Zone".
General info
Survivability and armour
Despite the hull armour being rather weak, the large engine, transmission and fuel tank along with the additional internal armour can help you withstand hits from some APFSDS rounds at the vehicle's battle rating. The turret also features armour that can easily bounce enemy darts and protect your vehicle from fragmentation shells due to the extreme angle of the armour as well as the 50 mm composite plating all over the front part of the roof.
The rear of the vehicle is also rather strong, featuring two 30 mm plates with an external fuel tank between them that can sometimes minimize the spalling of incoming rounds or stop low calibre APDS shells.
The turret also features a layout that even when penetrated can save the gunner or loader from getting hit by spall because of how low they are placed. The commander will usually be the first crew member to be knocked out, being the most exposed crew member of your tank. The breech is a rather large weakspot with a well placed shot under the gun having the potential of eliminating all of your crew.
Armour type:
- Cast homogeneous armour (Turret, Hull front, Gun mantlet)
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull sides and rear)
- Composite screens (Turret front and sides, Hull front and sides)
- External composite armour with NERA elements (Hull front)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 60 mm (66-84°) Front glacis 50-90 mm (36-60°) Lower glacis |
50 (12°) + 10 mm Top 50 mm (12°) Bottom |
30 mm (0-39°) | 20 - 60 mm |
| Turret | 150 - 300 mm Turret front ~150 mm Gun mantlet |
50-60 mm | 40-45 mm | 20-40 mm |
| Cupola | 30 mm | 30 mm | 30 mm | 30 mm |
Notes:
- Tracks and roadwheels consist of 20 mm of structual steel of chassis
- Front of the turret composite screen armour features 40 mm of NERA elements
- Side of the turret composite screen armour features 250 mm of NERA elements
- 50 mm Additional composite screens at the top of the turret
- 10 mm of internal armour are located in front and behind the engine and transmission
- ~60 mm Composite screens covering the top of the tracks and suspension
- Two 30 mm plates spaced 900 m from each other at the rear of the hull
- First stage ammunition storage is inside a 10 mm thick fireproof container
- Ammo is stored in 10 mm canisters
Mobility
Despite the rather large size of the vehicle, it is quite mobile. It features a 1200 horsepower engine featuring a 18.46 horsepower/ton ratio that allows it to accelerate to its top speed of 60 km/h on a paved road within 20 seconds. The vehicle also features two reverse gears with a top reverse speed of 10.3 km/h, which far from the best but it can still get you out of a bad situation reasonably fast. The vehicle features neutral steering ~15 seconds for a full 360 degree turn on the spot.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 67 | 29 | 65 | 1,860 | 2,290 | 28.62 | 35.23 |
| Realistic | 60 | 26 | 1,061 | 1,200 | 16.32 | 18.46 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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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 | 8.71 | 7.70 | 7.10 | 6.70 |
| 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
| 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°/+90° |
| Pintle (commander) | 1,800 (200) | 600 | -10°/+50° | ±120° |
Usage in battles
In RB, this vehicle can be used effectively to snipe (ideally in a hull-down position) using its amazing penetration at all ranges, laser rangefinder, generation 1 thermal optics and amazing zoom (gunner and commander), while exposing your turret and hiding your rather weak hull increases your survivability significantly.
The vehicle's good gun handling and mobility also allow for close quarters fights but your turret being placed so far back can lead to you being trapped having your front exposed to an enemy unable to shoot back and also your gun reload (6.7 seconds max crew) being slower than others of its type (6 seconds max crew) can lead to situations where you might not be able to shoot back fast enough if the first shot was not enough. You should also keep in mind the rather poor reverse speed and not be afraid to use the 12 smoke grenades you have available in 6 salvos of two in two launchers located at the front of the turret which are airburst-capable and 30 smoke grenades in a single smoke grenade launcher located over your loader.
Do not forget that your vehicle also features a total of four machineguns, one of them being a .50 cal mounted over your main gun with a generous supply of ammunition that are more than capable of sending enemy helicopters and low flying aircraft to the hangar while also being able to inflict damage to tracks of other vehicles and being able to knock out light vehicles from the side or rear.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Amazing firepower
- Good optics
Cons:
- Relatively slow reload compared to NATO tanks
- Rear turret placement
- No commander thermals
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
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.
| Israeli Ordnance Corps (חיל החימוש) | |
|---|---|
| Medium Tanks | M-51 · M-51 (W) |
| MBTs | |
| Magach | Magach 1 · Magach 2 · Magach 3 · Magach 3 (ERA) · ▃Magach 3 (ERA) · Magach 5 |
| Magach 6 · Magach 6A · Magach 6B · Magach 6C · Magach 6R · Magach 6M · Gal Batash | |
| Sho't | Sho't · Sho't Kal Alef · Sho't Kal Gimel · Sho't Kal Dalet · ▄Sho't Kal Dalet |
| Tiran | Tiran 4 · Tiran 4S |
| Merkava | ▃Merkava Mk.1 · Merkava Mk.1B · Merkava Mk.2B · ▃Merkava Mk.2B · Merkava Mk.2D |
| Merkava Mk.3B · Merkava Mk.3C · ▃Merkava Mk.3D · Merkava Mk.4B · Merkava Mk.4M | |
| Tank destroyers | Zachlam Tager |
| See Also | Chrysler Defense · Department of Tank Design · Morozov Design Bureau |
| Israel medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| M-51 | M-51 · M-51 (W) |
| Magach | Magach 1 · Magach 2 · Magach 3 · Magach 3 (ERA) · Magach 5 · Magach 6 |
| Magach 6A · Magach 6B · Magach 6B Gal · Gal Batash · Magach 6C · Magach 6M · Magach 6R · Magach Hydra · Magach 7C | |
| Tiran | Tiran 4 · Tiran 4S · Tiran 6 |
| Sho't | Sho't · Sho't Kal Alef · Sho't Kal Gimel · Sho't Kal Dalet |
| Merkava | Merkava Mk.1B · Merkava Mk.2B · Merkava Mk.2D · Merkava Mk.3B · Merkava Mk.3C · Ra'am Sagol |
| Merkava Mk.4B · Merkava Mk.4M · Merkava Mk.4 LIC | |
