page_title: Tanks of the Israel Defense Forces
section_title: Development of Israel's tanks
hierarchical_section_title: Tanks of the Israel Defense Forces / Development of Israel's tanks
caption_attribution_description: English: Improved Centurion tank in the Israeli Armored Corps museum in Latrun עברית: שוט קל(צנטוריון משופר). צולם על ידי בלטרון.
context_section_description: In 1965, Israel's military establishment began research and development on a domestically produced tank, the "Sabra" (not to be confused with the later model of the same name which is now in service, see: Sabra tank). Initially, Britain and Israel collaborated to adapt the United Kingdom's Chieftain tank that had entered British Army service in 1966. However, in 1969, Britain decided not to sell the tank to Israel for political reasons.
  Israel Tal, who was serving as a brigade commander after the Suez Crisis, restarted plans to produce an Israeli-made tank, drawing on lessons from the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Israeli forces were outnumbered by those of the Middle East's Arab nations.
  By 1974 initial designs were completed and prototypes were built. After a brief set of trials, work began to retool the Tel HaShomer ordnance depot for full-time development and construction. After the new facilities were completed, the Merkava was announced to the public in the International Defense Review periodical. The first official images of the tank were then released to the American periodical Armed Forces Journal on May 14, 1977. The IDF officially adopted the tank in December 1978. The first Merkava Mk. 1 tanks were supplied to the IDF in April 1979, nearly nine years after the decision to produce the Merkava Mk. 1 tank was taken. The Merkava series of main battle tank represents the backbone of Israeli armor elements.
  In addition to its own designs, Iareal had upgraded the many tanks it had and even renamed them. Israel's formerly British Centurions, bought in the late 1960s, were renamed "Sho't" ("scourge" or "whip") by the Israelis and heavily upgraded following their purchase. When the Six-day War broke out in 1967, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had 293 Centurion tanks that were ready for combat out of a total of 385 tanks. During the war, Israel captured 30 of Jordan's 44 Centurion tanks.
  Original Centurions had 20 pounder main guns, but these were quickly up-gunned to the British 105 mm L7. The vehicles went through a number of modifications, both major and minor, culminating in the Sho't with blazer package seen in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and retired with honour during the 1990s. The biggest modifications were the upgrades of the engine, sights and blazer packages.
  The engine has been changed to a more efficient diesel engine, fire control has been modernized, armour has been thickened, and an improved ammunition layout allows more rounds to be carried. An improved fire extinguishing system, better electrical system and brakes, and an increased fuel capacity, complete the modifications. The Sh'ot can be distinguished from the Centurion by its raised rear deck, to accommodate the bigger engine. They either have the original 7.62 mm calibre MG on the commander's cupola or have it replaced by a 12.7 mm calibre HMG and American radios.
  Many different variants were bought by Israel over the years from many different countries. Many components of these would find their way into the Merkava.
  Subvariants indicate upgrades received by Sho't Kal tanks during their operational life, including a new turret rotating mechanism, a new gun stabilizer, a new fire-control system and preparations for the installation of the Blazer Reactive armour.
  Though the Sho't tank was not commonly perceived as a principal battle tank during the Six-Day War (1967), nor the Yom Kippur war (1973); it was in fact considered the Israeli Army's most-effective tank. This Israeli version of the Centurion earned its legendary status during the Battle of "The Valley of Tears" on the Golan Heights in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
  Less than 100 Centurion tanks of the 7th Armoured Brigade defeated the advance of some 500 Syrian T-55s and T-62s. Fighting the Syrian army on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War, two damaged Centurion/Sho’t tanks engaged approximately 150 Syrian T-55/T-62 tanks. In the course of the following 30-hour tank battle, the two tanks knocked out over 60 tanks. The destruction of this entire armored division forced the Syrian army t
caption: An Israeli Sho't Kal, an upgraded Centurion tank. It was considered in many respects superior to the Soviet T-54/55.[61]
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD", "Image Model": "C750UZ", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.8", "Image DateTime": "2011:12:19 10:45:01", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "530", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 20, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1948", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5908", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "43/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "704", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "538", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}