Merkava Mk.2B (USA)

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▃Merkava Mk.2B
us_merkava_mk_2b_late.png
▃Merkava Mk.2B
AB RB SB
9.3 9.3 9.3
Class:
Show in game
MARKET
This page is about the American medium tank Merkava Mk.2B (USA). For other version, see Merkava Mk.1 (USA).

Description

GarageImage Merkava Mk.2B (USA).jpg


The ▃Merkava Siman 2 Bet is a gift rank VI American medium tank with a battle rating of 9.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update 1.95 "Northern Wind" as a reward for Operation F.R.O.S.T.

General info

Survivability and armour

The frontal armour on the Merkava 2B is great and is comparable or better than tanks of similar battle rating, the frontal turret especially. If somebody is hoping to have a shot penetrate through the turret when they are facing a Merkava frontally, there is a very good chance they are out of luck and it will not go through.

This does not mean that the Merkava is frontally invincible, however. The lower front plates are weak; even if they are stronger than the upper ones in pure armour thickness, the effective one is way lower. However, the lower front plate is the weakness of most tanks anyways, so this is to be expected. Also, there are some parts of the front armour that are weak, such as the turret gun mantlet and the area around it, as well as the uppermost part of the frontal upper plate, but being hit there, especially from long distance, is going to be all in the enemy's luck, so worrying about those spots is not necessary all the time.

Where this tank shines though is how it fixes the lower frontal plate issue. This vehicle's secret ace is its position of the engine. It is in front of the tank, covering most of the frontal lower plate and a decent part of the upper one as well. Thus, any hit there will certainly stop the shell coming at it, especially against HESH, HEAT, and sometimes HEAT-FS shells as well. It will also stop most of the shrapnel, protecting the crew even further. However, this also means increased risk of fires and being immobilized, so having the Parts and FPE module will be important to be able to quickly repair the tank and put out fires.

Stick to facing the front armour towards the enemies. The side and rear armour are thin to the point of non-existence, and the rear of the tank has all the ammunition, so anyone able to aim there will get a clean way of a one-shot. That, or they will knock out most, if not all, of the crew, which is still a one-shot.

Mobility

Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 60 26 63 1492 1,837 23.68 29.16
Realistic 54 24 852 963 13.52 15.29

Armaments

Main armament

Main article: Sharir (105 mm)
105 mm Sharir Turret rotation speed (°/s) Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode Capacity Vertical Horizontal Stabilizer Stock Upgraded Full Expert Aced Stock Full Expert Aced
Arcade 62 -8°/+20° ±180° Two-plane __._ __._ __._ __._ __._ 8.1 __.__ __.__ 6.7
Realistic __._ __._ __._ __._ 40.0

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
M111 APFSDS 337 335 330 322 314 306
M152 HEATFS 400 400 400 400 400 400
M156 HESH 127 127 127 127 127 127
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%
M111 APFSDS 1,455 3.79 N/A N/A N/A 78° 80° 81°
M152 HEATFS 1,173 10.5 N/A 0.1 1,270 65° 72° 77°
M156 HESH 732 14.85 0.4 0.1 4,310 73° 77° 80°
Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
Mass (kg)
Screen radius
(m)
Screen deploy time
(s)
Screen hold time
(s)
Explosive Mass
(TNT equivalent) (g)
M416 730 11.4 20 5 25 50

Ammo racks

Full
ammo
1st
rack empty
2nd
rack empty
3rd
rack empty
4th
rack empty
5th
rack empty
6th
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
62 __ (+__) __ (+__) __ (+__) __ (+__) __ (+__) __ (+__) __

Optics

Merkava Mk.2B (USA) Optics
Default magnification Maximum magnification
Main Gun optics X7.2 X8.0
Comparable optics ___

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount Capacity
(Belt capacity)
Rate of fire
(shots/minute)
Vertical
guidance
Horizontal
guidance
Coaxial 900 (200) 576 N/A N/A
7.62 mm FN MAG 60-40
Mount Capacity
(Belt capacity)
Rate of fire
(shots/minute)
Vertical
guidance
Horizontal
guidance
Coaxial 5,950 (200) 600 N/A N/A
Commander's cupola 1,750 (200) 600 -10°/+50° ±120°
Loader's cupola 1,750 (200) 600 -10°/+50° ±120°

Usage in battles

Tank shines in two primary roles - as an urban fighter and a long to medium-range sniper, which is not different to its real-world counterparts. When sniping its excellent stabilization provides a significant advantage when peaking out of the cover for a quick shots, and a small turret gives enemy a very little time to spot and aim at the tank. Added laser rangefinder in realistic modes further decreases exposure time needed to get the shot. In urban environment the engine and well-dispersed crew allows to survive most direct hits, while 8.1s reload time (below average 8.7s) allows to take the second shot before most of the competitors, and thanks to the advanced stabilization - it will be an accurate shot. What should be avoided though, is getting flanked, as the side-protection is negligible, making mobile warfare on more open maps extremely risky.

Modules

Tier Mobility Protection Firepower
I Tracks Parts Horizontal Drive M156
II Suspension Brake System FPE Adjustment of Fire NVD
III Filters Crew Replenishment Elevation Mechanism M416 Smoke grenade
IV Transmission Engine Artillery Support M111 Laser rangefinder

For Merkava it's even more important to research Parts and FPE, as the principle of its protection is to allow damage to happen, but without being lethal to the crew. Second important upgrade in tier II would be either NVD (if you play Realistic Battles) or Adjustment of Fire (for the Arcade Battles). Tier III requires you to research 3 modifications, necessary one is the Crew Replenishment. The other two depend very much on a play-style you prefer, but in either way M416 smoke shell can be freely ignored and researched as the final modification for the tank. For Tier IV the M111 shell is a good choice if you plan on playing in the BRs higher than 9.3. Laser Rangefinder would be an improvement for a more sniping play-style in the SB and RB. For more mobility-based gameplay Engine should be the first module researched at this tier, as it offers by far the best increase in horsepower per RP spent.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Multi-layered spaced armor provides a good protection against HESH, early HEAT and some ATGMs
  • Has access to a thermal sight
  • Good mobility once spaded. Can take the capture zones with lighter vehicles.
  • Good gun with effective choices of ammo, with stock HEAT-FS round working very well overall and a potent APFSDS shell that is superior to the XM-1's M735 round
  • Engine in the front gives some extra protection to the crew.
  • Low silhouette, excellent for hull-down position
  • Very good gun stabilization
  • Three extra machine guns on the roof to deal with lightly armoured vehicles, helicopters and planes. (2 x 7.62 mm + 1 x 12.7 mm)
  • Starts with stock smoke launcher, which improves when modifications are purchased

Cons:

  • Not premium (modules must be researched)
  • Stock HEATFS round will have difficulties dealing with vehicle with opponents composite armour
  • Selecting machine gun allows to use only one of the 7.62 mm guns at a time
  • Is not protected by the composite armour, therefore prone to the advanced HEATFS rounds
  • Almost no dedicated protection against kinetic rounds (primarly APFSDS) which are quite common at the battle rating
  • Shot to the center mass by any kinetic round is potentially lethal
  • Engine will protect the crew against certain munitions but will still often catch fire and burning out after exhausting FPE is a common thing
  • Driver has less protection than other crew members
  • All the modules being at the front means that there is no crew protection for flankers from the rear
  • Inferior optics of only 8x zoom compared to its competitors
  • Ammo rack in the rear, shot from the back are often lethal

History

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Media

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

  • reference to the series of the vehicles;
  • links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the tank;
  • other literature.


USA medium tanks
M2  M2
M3  M3 Lee · ▃Grant I
M4  M4 · Calliope · M4A1 · M4A1 (76) W · M4A2 · M4A2 (76) W · M4A3 (105) · M4A3 (76) W · M4/T26
M26 Pershing  T20 · T25 · M26 · M26 T99 · M26E1
M46/47/48 Patton  M46 · M46 "Tiger" · M47 · M48A1 · T54E1 · T54E2
M60  M60 · M60A1 (AOS) · M60A1 RISE (P) · M60A2 · M60A3 TTS · M728 CEV · 120S
MBT-70  MBT-70 · XM803
M1 Abrams  XM1 (Chrysler) · XM1 (GM)
  M1 Abrams · M1 KVT · IPM1
  M1A1 · M1A1 HC · M1A1 Click-Bait
  M1A2 Abrams · M1A2 SEP · M1A2 SEP V2
Other  T95E1
Australia  M1A1 AIM
Canada  M4A5
Israel  ▃Magach 3 (ERA) · ▃Merkava Mk.1 · ▃Merkava Mk.2B · ▃Merkava Mk.3D
Turkey  M60 AMBT

Winter events
2022  Winter Quest
Pilot stars  Late 298D · ◄Tornado IDS MFG
Tanker stars  T-80UM2
Sailor stars  USS Newport News
2021  Operation W.I.N.T.E.R.
Pilot stars  C. 202D · ◊MiG-23MF
Tanker stars  A.C.I · AGS
Sailor stars  IJN Hayanami · MPK Pr.201K
2020  Operation W.I.N.T.E.R.
Pilot stars  Ro.57 Quadriarma · MiG-21PFM
Tanker stars  E.B.R. (1954) · Class 3 (P)
Sailor stars  Type K-8 No.13 · USS Baltimore
2019  Operation F.R.O.S.T.
Pilot stars  TIS MA · J6K1
Tanker stars  QF 3.7 Ram · ▃Merkava Mk.2B
Sailor stars  PT-811 · Jaguar
2018  Festive Quest
Pilot stars  M.B.152C1 · Fw 190 C
Tanker stars  SU-85A · T30
Christmas Lights  P-43A-1 · Comet I "Iron Duke IV"
2017  Festive Quest
Pilot christmas toys  P-40C · NC.900
Tanker christmas toys  AEC Mk II · Ersatz M10
Christmas Lights  Fw 189 A-1 · KV-2 (1940)
2016  Winter Holiday
Pilot stages  Ki-21-I hei · Me 262 A-2a
Tanker stages  ▃LVT(A)(4) (ZIS-2) · ▂Type 62
2015  War Thunder Fulfills Your Wishes!
Pilot reward  ▂P-63C-5
Tanker reward  VK 45.01 (P)
2014  Holiday War Thunder Marathon!
Pilot reward  I-301
Tanker reward  M8A1 GMC