H.P.
5 Likes
The turret shape.
I’ll be totally honest I’m not 100% sure on the naming for all the variants, but here’s the main ones:
This is the baseline Merkava Mark III:
Note the simplistic turret shape, very similar to the Mark I and II’s.
This is the Baz/Kasag (I believe that’s the designation, I might be wrong, either way, the names are interchangeable):
Note the wider turret, that’s applique composite armor. Also many internal improvements to electronics and fire control
Now it seems the LIC variant is mostly similar to the kasag/baz variant, just with some LIC additions (MGs, more smoke launcher, a grate mesh on the gunner sights according to MENG)
But, either way, most of the Mark 3’s in Gaza are just the base Mark 3, without the applique turret armor.
I just wonder why that is.
Take all this with a grain of salt yeah I’m no expert, no doubt others here are much more knowledgeable than me lol
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At a guess, added armor means more fuel usage and mechanical wear. They probably calculated how many lives it was saving versus all the costs and chose to go without. I know the IDF puts a high price on their soldiers so the armor must be costly indeed.
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Merkava Mk.3 Ramaq - early variant, steel armor over engine, old fire control system without independent commander’s sight:
Merkava Mk.3 Baz- Baz fire control system with independent commander’s sight, special armor over engine (you can see the rivets)
Merkava Mk.3 Baz Dor Dalet- Baz variant with new armor modules on turret sides (LIC features are the protective mesh over air intakes, exhaust and FCS optics, additional belly armor)
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the merkava mark 3 is the most produed IDF tank, with 780 units. soon that will be eclipsed by the mk4 tho. can’t lie mk3 got a lot of variants, ill try to name them by memory
Base MK3
MK3B
MK3 RAMAQH
MK3D and forward
MK3 LIC
MK3 BAZ (KASAG)
exclusive variants:
MK3M
MK3 purple thunder
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also can’t forget the spiderkava mk3 variant. it has an active spider web APS - whenever a warhead comes close it quickly gets wrapped and explodes.
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This just further begs the question, why is almost every Mark III in Gaza the lame ass applique-less early versions!
Because manufacturing armor costs money, and fitting the entire Mk.3 fleet with fourth gen armor will cost a fortune. There is only so much funds and industrial\manufacturing power the military can use on any given thing.
It was probably deemed more preferable to invest in building Mk.4s than making more fourth gen kits.
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My cousin is on his third reserve tour in Gaza on MkIII’s this time he lucked out cause instead of fighting he’s doing maintenance on his units stuff. So he’s out of the fighting this time..
And yeah OPSEC is important. Like when a newbie who’s never posted before asking me to tell him what units and the markings mean ..
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Repost ?
H.P.
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Or posting the home address of someone in this thread…. See above. Unbelievable.
It’s the postal address for Desert Eagle Publishing and is readily available and published on their website under “Contact” so I don’t think it should be an issue.
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there are 4 dogs next to that namer. i hope they get fed 
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Second to last picture: Spare tracks on the turret? Wow, can’t say I’ve ever seen that!
Which pic are you referring to? I don’t see spare tracks on a turret.
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Thanks for clarifying that
Thanks for helping my apparent blindness 
Ya, don’t think I have seen track links on a Mk 4 turret before
H.P.
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