IMI MG251 (120 mm)

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Description

The 120 mm IMI MG251 is an Israeli-produced tank armament intended for their Merkava tanks.

Although sharing the same calibre and able to fire the same ammunition, the weapon is not a license-production variant of the 120 mm Rheinmetall L/44 cannon and is independently designed and produced in Israel.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
10 m 100 m 500 m 1,000 m 1,500 m 2,000 m
M325 HEATFS 480 480 480 480 480 480
M339 HE-TF 65 65 60 58 53 50
M322 APFSDS 625 622 613 601 588 575
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
Mass (kg)
Fuse delay
(m)
Fuse sensitivity
(mm)
Explosive Mass
(TNT equivalent) (g)
Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
M325 HEATFS 1,078 15.81 0.05 1 2,360 65° 72° 77°
M339 HE-TF 900 17 1.5 3 3,660 79° 80° 81°
M322 APFSDS 1,705 4.3 N/A N/A N/A 78° 80° 81°

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Possesses one of the highest-penetrating APFSDS round in the game with the M322, only beaten out by 120 L/55 ammunition

Cons:

  • M325 HEAT shell strength is mediocre at the fighting rank and is only useful against light-skinned ground and airborne targets
  • Reload time is akin to that of L/55 cannon, being much slower than 120 mm L/44 and 125 mm cannons

History

The 120 mm tank armament was developed by Israel Military Industries' (IMI) Slavin Land Systems Division.[1] It made its public reveal in 1989 as the main armament of the Merkava Mk.3.[2]

There are three known variants of the IMI's 120 mm cannon:[3]

  • MG251 - The first version mounted in Merkava Mk.3s
  • MG251-LR - An improved version that is mounted on Merkava Mk.4s
  • MG253 - A version with reduced recoil length, 40% less than the normal.[1] Used in the M60T "Sabra" in Turkish service.

The 120 mm guns are compliant with STANAG 4385, which means the cannons are compatible with other 120 mm NATO tank shells.[3]

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

External links

References
  1. 1.0 1.1 IMI Systems "L44 (MG251/3)"
  2. Janes "Israel Military Industries 120 mm"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Elbit Systems "Portfolio"
Bibliography
  • Elbit Systems. "Elbit Systems Land Tank Ammunition Portfolio." Elbit Systems, PDF document.
  • IMI Systems. "L44 (MG251/3) - 120mm Smoothbore Tank Guns." IMI Systems, Web Archive (Retrieved from 31 Dec 2016).
  • Janes. "Israel Military Industries 120 mm smoothbore tank gun MG251 (Israel), Weapons of 20 mm and upward." Jane's Armour and Artillery Upgrades, 17 May 2010, Web Archive (Retrieved from 01 Nov 2010)


USA tank cannons
25 mm  LW25 · M242
37 mm  M3 · M5 · M6
57 mm  M1
75 mm  M2 · M2 Howitzer · M3 · M6 · M1897A4 · XM274
76 mm  M1 · M7 · M32 · T185E1
90 mm  M3 · M3A1 · M36 · M41 · M54 · T15E1 · T15E2 · T54 · T208E9
105 mm  M4 · M68 · M68A1 · M68A1E8 · T5E1 · T5E2 · T140E2 · T140E3 · XM35
106 mm  M40A1C
120 mm  M58 · M256 · T53
152 mm  M81 · M162 · XM150E5
155 mm  M185 · T7
165 mm  M135
  Foreign:
20 mm  Rh202 (Germany)
57 mm  6pdr OQF Mk.III (Britain) · ZIS-2 (USSR)
105 mm  Sharir (Israel)
120 mm  IMI MG251 (Israel)