Armoured warfare

Armoured warfare in modern warfare is understood to be the use of armoured fighting vehicles as a central component of the methods of war.

Arab-Israeli wars

Both sides in the Arab-Israeli series of conflicts have made heavy use of tanks and other armoured vehicles. Up until the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israeli armoured units typically had the advantage, mainly due to good tactics and unit cohesion. In 1973, Israel failed to understand the importance of the introduction of anti-tank guided missiles. Hundreds of AT-3 Sagger man-portable anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) supplied to the Egyptians by the Soviet Union inflicted heavy losses on Israeli tanks. Since then, ATGMs have played an important role with Israeli forces too. They are some of the leaders in the development of missile-based "tank destroyers". When an Israeli infantry unit moved up to engage the anti-tank missiliers, they were able to easily defeat them - strong evidence that tanks operating on their own have some severe weaknesses.

Related Topics:
1973 - Yom Kippur War - Israel - Anti-tank guided missile - AT-3 Sagger - Egypt - Soviet Union

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Today, Israeli Merkava-class main battle tanks were developed against the role of anti-tank weapons. Special "spaced armour" protects the critical points of the tank such as the engines, fuel and ammo compartments. The heavily armoured tank is one of the most advanced in the world. Its design and technology gives its crew an exceptionally high chance of survival when faced with even the strongest anti-tank weapons and tactics.

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