Of all the machines the Israelis could buy, the M60A1 series tanks were at that time perhaps the ultimate choice.
With the failure of their attempts to acquire British Chieftain MBTs, American tanks seemed like the best option, especially when considering the fickle nature of British and French foreign policies when it came to their interests in the Middle East.
The basic M60A1 tank was a clear upgrade compared to the M48 series. More info about its development can be obtained from a dedicated article , but, in short, the basic layout was the same — the vehicle weighed The Israeli troops loved its mobility and agility compared to their older vehicles — until they first went to combat in them in It was a disaster — the tank performed well enough but its steel armor could not protect its crew against incoming Malyutka missiles launched by Soviet-trained Egyptian and Syrian infantry teams as well as from the BMP-1s that were supplied to the Arab armies en-masse.
When the war broke out, most of these vehicles were deployed in the south against the Egyptians and suffered heavy losses with more than one half of all active Magach tanks being destroyed in the war out of Magach tanks, survived, but this number includes the M48 Magach series. What was worse, the infamous burning hydraulic fluid issue affected the Magach 6 series tanks just like the Magach 5 and caused massive losses even amongst the Magach 6 crews. The goal of the RISE upgrade was to improve its reliability and the 2C engine variant was developed with improved starters, fuel injection, cylinders, electric systems and superchargers.
Although it did not produce more power than the original engine, the lifespan was much better. Thus upgraded these vehicles were referred to as Magach 6 Bet 6B and between and , all the Magach 6A tanks were modified to the Magach 6 Bet 6B standard. These tanks then participated in the Operation Peace for Galilee in Lebanon where the upgraded armor proved its worth by stopping the vast majority of Soviet Malyutka missiles — the losses of would not repeat themselves. But, there was no denying it.
The frontal protection of the basic M60A1 was mm of steel armor but by the end of the s, typical modern kinetic rounds could penetrate around mm of RHAe and the number was increasing rapidly.
All the tanks also got hp engine and enforced torsion bars and some other suspension parts. In total about 20 tanks were upgraded the number could probably be a bit higher but not more than The tanks appeared in Lebanon in and remained there until the withdrawal in May So from the good side it was a massive protection but from the bad its mobility was very limited especially in Lebanon muddy and rocky terrain. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem.
Return to Book Page. Get A Copy. Paperback , 83 pages. More Details Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. And what you would have found is the limited amount of information available as reference material. Well, that was until recently when more and more has become available, this is the fourth book released in the Desert Eagle Publications library on the IDF, an A4 sized paper back with around 84 pages of pictures and words, so lets take a closer look.
The Book Just by picking up the book and flicking through the pages you cannot help but be impressed, starved of good reference material on the IDF for so long the quality and clarity of the pictures is a joy to behold. The book is laid out in what is best described as logical, starting with a small acknowledgement to those involved and contact details for the publisher followed by a small introduction explaining what you can expect to see in the book as well as a quick guide to the coverage in the previous book.
This is followed by a small chart laying out the time line for the various vehicles covered in the book before getting straight onto the 6B Gal covering some good pictures and descriptions. This is followed by a history of the 6B Gal Batash and some more in action pictures, all again with some excellent worded descriptions helping to better explain what you are seeing. A small section on the crew of the Batash is followed by a good walk around of the Batash, plenty of good detailed pictures showing all around this fantastic machine.
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