The Merkava is a series of main battle tanks used by the Israel Defense Forces and the backbone of the IDF's armored corps. The tank began development in 1970, and its first generation, the Merkava mark I, entered official service in 1979. Four main variants have been deployed. As of 2023, the Merkava mark IV is the latest version. The Merkava was first used extensively in the 1982 Lebanon War. The name "Merkava" was derived from the IDF's initial development program name.
The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks are a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defence commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov who operated with the Red Army during World War II. The KV tanks were known for their heavy armour protection during the early stages of the war, especially during the first year of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In certain situations, even a single KV-1 or KV-2 supported by infantry could halt German formations. The German Wehrmacht at that time rarely deployed its tanks against KVs, as their own armament was too poor to deal with the "Russischer Koloss" – "Russian Colossus".
The T-35 was a Soviet multi-turreted heavy tank of the interwar period and early Second World War that saw limited production and service with the Red Army. Often called a land battleship, it was the only five-turreted heavy tank in the world to reach production, but proved to be slow and mechanically unreliable. Most of the T-35 tanks still operational at the time of Operation Barbarossa were lost due to mechanical failure rather than enemy action. It was designed to complement the contemporary T-28 medium tank; however, very few were built.
The BT-7 was the last of the BT series of Soviet cavalry tanks that were produced in large numbers between 1935 and 1940. It was lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for the time, and had much better mobility than other contemporary tank designs. The BT tanks were known by the nickname Betka from the acronym, or its diminutive, Betushka.
The M60 is an American second-generation main battle tank (MBT). It was officially standardized as the Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105-mm Gun, M60 in March 1959. Although developed from the M48 Patton, the M60 tank series was never officially christened as a Patton tank. The US Army considered it a "product-improved descendant" of the Patton tank's design. The design similarities are evident comparing the original version of the M60 and the M48A2. It has been sometimes informally grouped as a member of the Patton tank family. The United States fully committed to the MBT doctrine in 1963, when the Marine Corps retired the last (M103) heavy tank battalion. The M60 tank series became America's primary main battle tank during the Cold War, reaching a production total of 15,000 M60s. Hull production ended in 1983, but 5,400 older models were converted to the M60A3 variant ending in 1990.
A tank gun is the main armament of a tank. Modern tank guns are high-velocity, large-caliber artilleries capable of firing kinetic energy penetrators, high-explosive anti-tank, and cannon-launched guided projectiles. Anti-aircraft guns can also be mounted to tanks.
A gun turret is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in some degree of azimuth and elevation.
OTO Melara was a subsidiary of the Italian company Finmeccanica, today Leonardo, active in the defence sector, with factories in Brescia and La Spezia. The Mod 56 pack howitzer, in service throughout the world, and the 76mm naval gun, adopted by 53 navies and installed on over 1,000 naval vessels, are among OTO Melara's best known weapons since World War II.
The Dardo is an infantry fighting vehicle designed for the Italian Army as a replacement for the M113 APC. It is designed and built by the Iveco Fiat Oto Melara Syndicated Company based in Rome. Iveco is responsible for the hull and propulsion systems, while Oto Melara is responsible for the weapons and fire control systems.
The Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" was a design for a 1000-ton tank to be used by Germany during World War II which may have been proposed by Krupp director Edward Grotte in June 1942, who had already named it "Landkreuzer". Submitted designs and drawings of the vehicle went under the names OKH Auftrag Nr. 30404 and E-30404/1, which were presented in December 1942. The tank was planned to be 1000 tonnes, being far heavier than the Panzer VIII "Maus", the heaviest tank ever built. The project gained the approval of Adolf Hitler, who had expressed interest in the development of the tank, but was cancelled by Minister of Armaments Albert Speer in early 1943.
The Type 95 heavy tank was the final result of Japanese multi-turreted tank design, and was in commission during the time period between World War I and World War II. Modeled on German and Italian tank designs, this tank featured 3 turrets. The main armament being a 70 mm cannon in a central turret, with its secondary front turret mounting a 37 mm gun and a 6.5 mm machine gun in the rear turret. Four prototypes were produced in 1934.
The German 28 cm SK C/34 naval gun was a 283 mm 54.5-caliber built-up gun designed in 1934 used on the Scharnhorst-class battleship and for the planned Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte super-heavy tank.
The AMX 50 or AMX-50 was a French heavy tank designed in the immediate post Second World War period. It was proposed as, in succession, the French medium, heavy, and main battle tank, incorporating many advanced features. It was cancelled in the late 1950s however, due to unfavourable economic and political circumstances after serious delays in development.
A weapon mount is an assembly or mechanism used to hold a weapon onto a platform in order for it to function at maximum capacity. Weapon mounts can be broken down into two categories: static mounts and non-static mounts.
Object 187, was a Soviet experimental main battle tank developed between the late 1980s and middle 1990s. It remains a relatively unpublicized development because of high levels of secrecy surrounding the project.
An oscillating turret is a form of turret for armoured fighting vehicles, both tanks and armoured cars. The turret is unusual in being made of two hinged parts. Elevation of the gun relies on the upper part of the turret moving relative to the lower part.
The Chrysler TV-8 was a tank design project by Chrysler in the 1950s. The tank was intended to be a medium tank capable of land and amphibious warfare. The design was never produced.
The ELC project was a prototype light tank project launched by the French Ministry of Defense in 1955. The purpose of the ELC project was to develop a lightly armoured, heavily armed fighting vehicle capable of being airlifted for rapid deployment.
The T-42 was a Soviet super-heavy tank project of the interwar period. It was developed in 1932 by the OKB-5 design bureau at Bolshevik Plant no. 232 under the direction of a German engineer-designer Edward Grote. Development did not advance past the stage of construction drawings and scale models. The design was passed over in favour of the T-35 project which was already at the prototype stage.
The Panther KF51 is a German main battle tank (MBT) that is under development by Rheinmetall Landsysteme. It was unveiled publicly at the Eurosatory defence exhibition on 13 June 2022. KF is short for "Kettenfahrzeug", the German word for "tracked vehicle".
