[2023-12-03]西方的神话破灭了。为什么“最安全”的梅卡瓦坦克在巷战中反复被摧毁?

More than ten years ago, readers who paid attention to the military would have noticed that when ranking main battle tanks in many military publications, the Merkava tank was given a high ranking.

十多年前，关注军事的读者可能会注意到，在很多军事刊物对主战坦克进行排名时，梅卡瓦坦克被赋予了较高的排名。

Moreover, these rankings give surprisingly consistent evaluations of the Merkava. They all say that the Merkava tank is the "safest" main battle tank. The myth of "preferring to sacrifice performance to protect personnel safety" has been promoted for many years.

而且，这些排名给出的梅卡瓦评价出奇地一致。它们都说梅卡瓦坦克是“最安全”的主战坦克。多年来一直吹嘘“宁可牺牲性能也要保护人员安全”的神话。

But things that are blown up will eventually be exposed. In this Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Merkava tanks that were blown up to the sky were repeatedly destroyed in street battles. The "trophy" system that had high hopes did not work. The so-called "last" "Safety" has become empty talk.

但是吹嘘的事物终将暴露无遗。在这场巴以冲突中，被吹捧到天上的梅卡瓦坦克在街头战中屡屡被摧毁。备受寄予厚望的“战利品”系统并未发挥作用。所谓的“最后的”“安全”变成了空谈。

Why do many people think the Merkava tank is the "safest" main battle tank? In addition to the brainwashing propaganda of the Western media, the design of the Merkava tank also gives people the illusion that "this tank looks very safe."

为什么很多人认为梅卡瓦坦克是“最安全”的主战坦克呢？除了西方媒体的洗脑宣传外，梅卡瓦坦克的设计也给人一种“这坦克看上去很安全”的错觉。

Why is there such an illusion? This is mainly because of the three design features of the Merkava tank. Let's analyze them one by one.

为什么会有这样的错觉呢？这主要是由于梅卡瓦坦克的三个设计特点所致。让我们一一分析。

The first is the most unique front-engine layout of the Merkava tank, which is unique among the main battle tanks currently in service in the world. The main battle tanks of China, the United States, Russia and Germany all have engines behind the body.

首先是梅卡瓦坦克最独特的前置发动机布局，在目前世界在役的主战坦克中独树一帜。中国、美国、俄罗斯和德国的主战坦克都是发动机位于车体后部。

Generally, only infantry fighting vehicles, or light tanks based on the chassis of infantry fighting vehicles such as the CV90120, will choose the front-engine layout.

通常，只有步兵战车或基于步兵战车底盘的轻型坦克，如CV90120，才会选择前置发动机布局。

The diesel engine used in the tank is made of high-performance steel, weighs in tons, and has a certain degree of defense capability. The main threats faced by Israeli tanks before were various rockets with armor-breaking
capabilities of less than 600 mm. Diesel engines can block such attacks at the cost of scrapping themselves.

坦克使用的柴油发动机由高性能钢材制成，重达数吨，并具有一定的防御能力。以色列坦克以前面临的主要威胁是穿甲能力不足600毫米的各种火箭弹。柴油发动机可以在自身报废的代价下阻挡这类攻击。

We can say that the layout of the front engine ensures the lower limit of protection, but the relative price is that the Merkava tank cannot continue to enhance frontal protection.

我们可以说，前置发动机的布局确保了防护的下限，但相对的代价是梅卡瓦坦克无法继续增强正面防护。

Because the engine needs to be inspected, a large access opening needs to be opened in front of the car body. This makes it impossible for the Merkava car body to be designed with thick main armor, nor can it be equipped with heavy explosive reactive armor or additional armor.

因为需要检查发动机，车体前部需要开一个大的检修口。这使得梅卡瓦车体无法设计成厚重的主装甲，也无法装备重型反应装甲或额外装甲。

We can use the analogy of Chinese and Russian main battle tanks. The main armor resistance of 99A tank or Russia's T90M tank is 600 to 700 mm. After wearing FY4 or "Fossil" explosive reactive armor, it can increase by 500 mm. The anti-breakage ability increases this data to more than 1100 mm.

我们可以用中国和俄罗斯的主战坦克做类比。99A坦克或俄罗斯的T90M坦克的主装甲抗性为600至700毫米。穿上FY4或“化石”反应装甲后，可以增加500毫米，穿甲能力这个数据增加到1100毫米以上。

The Merkava tank cannot do this, so it is okay to defeat the guerrillas who only have old RPG7 rockets in their hands, because the armor-breaking ability of these rockets is generally less than 600 mm.

梅卡瓦坦克无法做到这一点，所以对付只有老式RPG7火箭弹的游击队还行，因为这些火箭弹的穿甲能力通常不足600毫米。

For example, after the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in the exchange of fire between northern Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah armed forces, a Merkava tank was destroyed frontally by Hezbollah's "Cornet" anti-tank missile.

例如，在巴以冲突爆发后，在以色列北部和黎巴嫩真主党武装力量的交火中，一辆梅卡瓦坦克被真主党的“科尔尼特”反坦克导弹正面摧毁。

Because the latter's armor-breaking capability reaches 1,200 mm, even if the Merkava tank has a front-mounted engine and does not have thick main armor and heavy explosive counterattack, it cannot stop the attack of this advanced anti-tank missile.

因为后者的穿甲能力达到1200毫米，即使梅卡瓦坦克有前置发动机，也没有厚重的主装甲和重型反弹装甲，也无法阻挡这种先进反坦克导弹的攻击。

To sum up, the layout of the front engine of the Merkava tank guarantees the lower limit of defense capabilities, but the upper limit is also limited by this. As the opponent's anti-tank capabilities increase, Merkava tanks will naturally be unable to block attacks.

总的来说，梅卡瓦坦克的前置发动机布局保障了防御能力的下限，但上限也受到这一布局的限制。随着对手反坦克能力的提升，梅卡瓦坦克自然无法阻挡攻击。

However, in addition to the passive protection of the armor, the Merkava tank also has a defense system that is talked about by many media, which is the "trophy" active defense system. How effective is it?

然而，除了装甲的被动防护外，梅卡瓦坦克还拥有许多媒体谈论的防御系统，那就是“战利品”主动防御系统。它的效果如何呢？

As the earliest Western active defense system developed and put into use, the performance of the "Trophy" active defense system is pretty good. In Israel's battles against guerrillas in the past few years, there were many examples of successful interceptions.

作为最早由西方开发并投入使用的主动防御系统，“战利品”系统的性能相当不错。在过去几年以色列对游击队的战斗中，有许多成功拦截的例子。

Comparing products from other countries, the performance of "Trophy" belongs to the first echelon. In addition to the disadvantage of being relatively heavy, its response speed and interception efficiency are not bad, but it does not have the ability to intercept armor-piercing projectiles.

与其他国家的产品相比，“战利品”的性能属于第一梯队。除了相对较重的缺点外，其反应速度和拦截效率都不错，但它没有拦截穿甲弹的能力。

Within Western countries, the performance of "Trophy" has been widely recognized. The latest M1A2C tanks of the US military are also equipped with the "Trophy" system purchased from Israel.

在西方国家内，“战利品”的性能已得到广泛认可。美军最新的M1A2C坦克也装备了从以色列购买的“战利品”系统。

For the Hamas armed forces, this system has caused them a lot of trouble in the past few years and made anti-tank operations more difficult. However, Hamas armed forces are good at learning from battles and quickly summed up a set of methods for the "trophy" system.

对于哈马斯武装力量来说，这个系统在过去几年中给他们造成了许多麻烦，使反坦克作战变得更加困难。然而，哈马斯武装力量擅长从战斗中学习，很快总结出一套针对“战利品”系统的方法。

First, judge whether the "trophy" system is turned on by observing whether there are infantry near the Merkava tank. This system consumes a lot of power. The Merkava tank will not be turned on all the time. After it is turned on, there must be no infantry around the tank, otherwise it will cause accidental damage.

首先，通过观察梅卡瓦坦克附近是否有步兵来判断“战利品”系统是否开启。这个系统耗电量大，梅卡瓦坦克不会一直开启。一旦开启，坦克周围就不能有步兵，否则会造成意外伤害。

Second, if the Merkava tank with the "trophy" system turned on is to be attacked from a long distance, Hamas will arrange two groups of anti-tank shooters to launch two missiles at intervals of a few seconds.

其次，如果打算攻击开启了“战利品”系统的梅卡瓦坦克，哈马斯会安排两组反坦克射手，间隔几秒钟发射两枚导弹。

Because the "Combat Product" system cannot identify two targets that are very close together, it will only intercept the first missile, but not the second missile, so that the second missile can successfully hit.

因为“战利品”系统无法识别非常接近的两个目标，它只会拦截第一枚导弹，而不会拦截第二枚导弹，使得第二枚导弹能够成功命中。

Third, the "trophy" system will not respond to rockets and anti-tank missiles launched within tens of meters. Taking advantage of this weakness, Hamas can get close to the tank and then launch it. We have seen many results achieved using this tactic.

第三，“战利品”系统对在数十米内发射的火箭弹和反坦克导弹不会做出反应。利用这个弱点，哈马斯可以靠近坦克然后发射。我们已经看到许多利用这种战术取得的成果。

Therefore, although the "trophy" system is a good active defense system, after its weaknesses are studied and targeted tactics are designed, its performance is ugly. However, Israel has not improved the "trophy" system to solve these problems. It must be said that this is the end of arrogance.

因此，尽管“战利品”系统是一个良好的主动防御系统，但在其弱点被研究并针对性地设计战术后，其表现十分糟糕。然而，以色列并没有改进“战利品”系统以解决这些问题。不得不说，这是傲慢的终结。

The third design feature of the Merkava tank is that it can carry a certain number of infantry. In theory, this can allow the Merkava tank to better achieve coordinated infantry and tank operations.

梅卡瓦坦克的第三个设计特点是它能携带一定数量的步兵。理论上，这可以让梅卡瓦坦克更好地实现步兵与坦克的协同作战。

In the brutal street fighting on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, both the Russian and Ukrainian armies have proven that it does not matter whether there is an active defense system or not. Close infant-tank coordination tactics are the most important in street fighting, and they are no less important than drones.

在俄罗斯-乌克兰战场上残酷的街战中，俄罗斯和乌克兰军队都证明了，是否有主动防御系统并不重要。在街战中，密切的步兵-坦克协同战术是最重要的，它们的重要性不亚于无人机。

However, we can see from many battlefield videos that Israeli infantry only dare to get off their vehicles during non-combat times. They stay in their vehicles most of the time, hoping that the vehicle's armor will protect them.

然而，我们可以从许多战场视频中看出，以色列步兵只敢在非战斗时刻下车。他们大部分时间都留在车里，希望车辆的装甲能保护他们。

However, if a tank does not have infantry to expand the tank's situational awareness and provide cover for the tank in street fighting, it will be a living target. The Russian army has fully proved how miserable a tank without infantry cover can be in the first Chechen War. .

但是，如果一辆坦克没有步兵来扩大坦克的态势感知，并在巷战中为坦克提供掩护，它将成为一个活靶子。在第一次车臣战争中，俄罗斯军队充分证明了没有步兵掩护的坦克会有多么悲惨。

Now the Israeli army is the second Chechen Russian army. The irony is that the Russian army, which once made a mess in street fighting, is now performing very well in street fighting on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. The Israeli army, which was praised by the Western media, suffered heavy losses in Gaza City. Suffered tens of thousands of casualties.

现在，以色列军队成了第二个车臣战争中的俄罗斯军队。具有讽刺意味的是，曾经在街战中一塌糊涂的俄罗斯军队，现在在俄罗斯-乌克兰战场上的街战中表现得非常好。而被西方媒体赞扬的以色列军队，在加沙市却遭受了沉重的损失。遭受了数万人的伤亡。

The myths promoted will eventually be exposed. No amount of so-called "actual combat experience" can compare with serious combat readiness training, actual combat exercises and military innovation.

被吹嘘的神话最终会被揭露。再多所谓的“实战经验”也无法与认真的战备训练、实战演习和军事创新相比较。