Overview of Israel's main battle tank "Magach 3".
The Magach 3 tank was shown at the Patriot Park Technical Center. The tank was handed over by Israel in 2016 in exchange for a similar tank previously exhibited in Kubinka. The tank was captured by Syria during the fighting in Lebanon in 1982 and sent to the Soviet Union for study. Since there was no exact information about the fate of its crew, the tank became a kind of memorial relic for Israel, so the parties exchanged it.
United States M48 family tanks have been supplied to Israel since 1964. Initially these tanks came from the stocks of the Bundeswehr, but later the United States was also directly involved in the supply. In total, the Israel Defense Forces received no less than 800 M48 tanks of various models, which have been upgraded several times to Israel standards to adapt to the local battlefield environment and to be unified with the main components and systems of other tanks in service.
Israel named these M48 tanks "Magach", which can be translated as "ramming". The "Magach 3" is an upgrade of the M48A1 and M48A2C models to a level roughly equivalent to the United States M48A5. The original A5, supplied directly from the United States, is called the "Magach 5" in Israel.
By 1982, the tanks were equipped with Blazer reactive armor, equipped with new M111 feathered armor-piercing shells (APFSDS-T), as well as smoke grenade firing systems, etc. For these reasons, this tank was of considerable research value to Soviet specialists, so this tank, "gifted" by Syria, was studied and tested at research test site No. 38 in Kubinka, after which it was admitted to the museum.
Lack of reactive armor: Israel's Magach tank does not have reactive armor, but a 12.7 mm M2 heavy machine gun is mounted on the main gun.
Key features:
• Layout: The tank has a traditional layout with the engine in the rear and a crew of 4 people. The driver was located on the central axis of the front of the hull, the gun commander and commander were on the right side of the turret, and the loader was on the left.
• Weight: The total combat weight is approximately 50 tons.
• Interior space: The interior space of the armor protection is 15.6 cubic meters.
Weapon systems
Israel's "Magach" tank was mounted with a United Kingdom 105-mm L7A1 rifled gun, equipped with a smoke extraction device. The Magach 5 tank retains the original United States M68 gun, although its ballistic performance is similar, but it differs in the design of the recoil. Ammunition consists of 79 rounds of unit ammunition of the various types of armor-piercing, high-explosive, shaped and smoke grenades.
Ammunition improvements
At the end of the 70s, Israel developed a new 105-mm M111 "Hetz 6" feathered armor-piercing projectile. The ammunition has an advanced design and can effectively penetrate the frontal armor of the T-55 and T-62 tanks of the Arab countries. Soviet tests showed that the ammunition could penetrate the upper front armor of the T-1500A and T-72B tanks at a distance of 80 to 80 meters.
Design features of the M111 armor-piercing projectile include:
• Core: 33 mm diameter tungsten alloy core.
• Shock absorbers: Segmented armor-piercing shock absorbers, optimized for penetrating high-angle armor.
• Guiding device: Disc shaped guiding device made of aluminum alloy to reduce wear and tear on the barrel.
• Tail: Improves shooting accuracy and reduces muzzle velocity falloff.
Through these upgrades and modifications, the Magach 3 became an important member of Israel's armored forces and played a significant role in the Middle East theater.
Israel 105mm armor-piercing projectile M111 "Hetz 6" muzzle velocity: 1455 m / s. Armor-piercing ability: Penetrates armor 150 to 170 mm thick and inclined 60 degrees at a distance of 2000 meters.
Based on the results of Soviet tests of the M111 armor-piercing shell, it was decided to add additional armor plates to the upper front armor (VLD) of the T-64, T-72 and T-80 main battle tanks in service. An improved model being developed also ensures protection against such armor-piercing shells from Israel.
The "Magach" tanks of the Israel Defense Forces are traditionally equipped with a wide range of auxiliary weapons. In addition to the 7.62×51-mm M73A1 machine gun in parallel with the main gun, two M1919A4 machine guns of the same caliber were installed on the commander's turret and loader's hatch base, with a total ammunition of 10000 rounds. On the gun shield of the main gun, a 12.7×99 mm M2 heavy machine gun was installed for target designation and strikes. The ammunition of this machine gun is 1000 rounds. In addition, a 60-mm "Soltam" mortar with 30 anti-personnel and flares was installed on the right side of the turret, which was operated by the tank commander with the upper body poking out of the hatch.
Unfortunately, the heavy machine gun and 60-mm mortar on the museum exhibits have been removed, but the mounting brackets remain on the turret.
Installation of 60-mm mortars: 60-mm mortars were installed on the edge of the right side of the turret.
Mortar mounting: The mortar mounting bracket on the right side of the turret is located under the heavy machine gun, to the right of the hole for dismounting the turret.
Installation of the 7.62 mm M1919A4 machine gun: The 7.62 mm M1919A4 machine gun was mounted above the commander's turret.
Other details of the configuration of the "Magach" tank
1. Loader's Machine Gun: A similar machine gun is mounted on the loader's position.
2. Aiming System:
• Gunner: Equipped with a perspective sight with field stabilization.
• Commander: Equipped with a similar scope and an alternate operating system for weapon control.
3. Reserve Armament:
• For tanks used by troops equipped with reserves, an optical stereo rangefinder was not installed in the commander's place. Thus, the sighting holes of the stereo rangefinder windows of these tanks could be closed.
4. Night Combat:
• Use detachable night vision sights, which are based on active electron-optical converters and illuminated with xenon searchlights. The searchlight was mounted on the left side of the rear of the turret while marching.
Details of the configuration of the Israel "Magach" tank
1. Mounting bracket for xenon searchlight: The bracket for the xenon searchlight is installed in the rear of the turret, to the right of the block of dynamic protective armor.
2. Commander's turret: The tank is equipped with the Israel-produced Urdan commander's turret, which is equipped with three perspective sights and a hatch that can be fixed in the ascending position.
Armor protection and dynamic protection of the Israel "Magach" tank
1. Armor Structure:
• Hull Armor: The armor of the tank is a monocoque cast, and the hull is cast from armor steel with an oval cross-section. The frontal armor (VLD) was 110 mm thick and tilted at an angle of 60 degrees.
• Turret Armor: The turret is also cast, with frontal armor thickness of 145 mm and an inclination angle of up to 45 degrees. The tank is able to withstand hits from 62-mm armor-piercing shells from the T-115 main battle tank at a distance of more than 2000 meters.
2. Dynamic Protection:
• Blazer Dynamic Protective Armor: The Israel "Magach" tank is equipped with Blazer Dynamic Protective Armor. The appearance of the Blazer was almost simultaneously with the state tests of the Soviet "Kontakt" dynamic protective armor, so although Israel's contribution to the Blazer was modest, its presence may have had some influence on the Soviet Union's decision to install dynamic protective armor.
• Blazer Design Features:
• Multiple container sizes: The Blazer system uses a large number of different types of containers, while the Soviet dynamic protection system uses only three types of containers, and the containers are uniform in their installation positions.
• Minimized gaps: Gaps between containers are minimized for improved protection.
• Arrangement of protective armor elements: different arrangements are used depending on the type of container.
• Protective Armor Element Structure: Each protective armor element is constructed of two 3 mm thick steel plates. The outer steel plate is flat, while the inner steel plate forms a cavity filled with nitrogen hexafluoride based explosives.
The main container was fixed on the front armor plate (ВЛД) with an external cover with variable angles of inclination. On the edges of the front armor plates were installed two other types of containers.
The components of the armored reactive unit (ДЗ) are installed parallel to the external cover of the container with a clearance of 12 mm. In the Soviet system "Kontakt", each container contained two components of armored reactors inclined to each other, which made it possible to achieve the same effect as the "Blazer" armored reactor with smaller container dimensions and component lengths.
The "Blazer" armored reactor is mounted on the gun shield of the turret.
The rear of the turret was additionally shielded by a crew supply basket equipped with water tanks and spare tracks.
In a box above the right track, a box was placed the equipment that provided telephone communication between the crew and the accompanying infantry.
The layout of the armor-reactor assembly in the current scheme lacks additional protection from the sides of the hull and the roof of the turret. The total weight of the device is about 900 kg; Nevertheless, the anti-cumulative resistance of the forward projection has increased significantly (up to 600-650 mm), which gives the tank a high level of protection against Soviet-made RPGs and anti-tank missiles equipped in Arab countries. In the front of the turret, two 12-barreled smoke grenade launchers (CL-3030) were installed on the left and right sides of the gun. It is a pity that these devices also do not appear on the tanks exhibited in the museum, although their presence will make the vehicle look more intimidating.
A metal plate for fixing the CL-3030 smoke grenade launcher.
The dynamic protection of the frontal armor plates of the hull has been removed.
The tanks were equipped with AVDS-1790-2A 12-cylinder 4-stroke V-type diesel engines developed by Teledyne Continental in United States with air cooling and direct fuel injection. The engine is a one-piece design with a CD-850-6 hydromechanical drivetrain that provides two forward and one reverse gears. The track section uses six rubberized two-wheel support wheels on each side, five support wheels with rubber cladding, guide wheels unified with the support wheels, drive wheels with removable ring gears, track chains with parallel track devices and removable asphalt walking shoes, and track tensioners with hydraulic drives. The support wheels adopt an independent torsion bar suspension system, the torsion bar shafts are non-coaxially arranged, and the front, middle and rear parts are equipped with hydraulic shock absorbers.
Further refinement of the "Magach" tank continued until the end of the 90s, especially for the M60 family of tanks supplied from United States. These tanks introduced an automatic fire control system, using parts and assemblies partially unified with the Israel Merkava main battle tank. Regarding protection, despite the improvements in the design of the "Blazer" dynamic protection complex, on the later version of the "Magach" it was replaced by an additional passive armor protection module.
Magach tank in Lebanon. Two destroyed Syria T-62 tanks are visible in the background.
Soviet military advisers next to captured Israel tanks. Syria, 1980s.