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Israel has some of the oddest tank units in the world, and not just because of the Merkava. There
are better people to talk about that platform’s idiosyncrasies, like just what that compartment
in the back is really for. But today I’m covering the organization of Israeli armor units. As well
as their tactical markings and how to ID a tank’s unit from the platoon to brigade-level.
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At the base of the active duty Israeli tank company is the
Merkava Mk 4M. As its 120mm cannon is manually loaded,
the tank is crewed by 4 soldiers. The commander, gunner, driver, and loader.
A platoon has 2 tanks. One will be commanded by the Platoon Leader,
who is either a Lieutenant or Second Lieutenant depending on time in service, while the “B”
tank is commanded by a Staff Sergeant or Sergeant, field NCOs and not a professional.
Note the enlisted tankers are conscripts, with the tank commanders being towards the end of
their obligation. I’ve been told that they generally try to pair the least experienced
platoon leaders with the most experienced field NCOs, and vice versa. Which I suppose
is a way to try and maximize what little exists in terms of experience, since there aren’t any
professional NCOs with more than 32 months in service. By contrast, American Staff Sergeants,
Sergeants First Class and probably Sergeants as well will have more time in service.
The next-level up, each company has 4 platoons, 2 tanks each. These are numbered 1 to 4, each with a
commander tank and a B tank. And then the Company HQ has two tanks which I’ll get into in a little.
This wasn’t always the case though. Originally,
the IDF had 3 platoons of 3 tanks plus the 2 HQ tanks. The reserve brigades in
fact still have 3 tanks per platoon, with a third “A” tank for the newest commander.
This structure was influenced by conventional war pressures, and I’ve seen it claimed that
going from 5 to 3 tanks per platoon was a result of experimentation after the 1956
Suez Crisis. We most often associate the 3-tank platoon with the Russians,
but other nations have used it to either tighten command and control during fast paced maneuvers,
or allow for more platoons in a company, more companies in a battalion, or more
battalions overall, which in a large-scale conflict can be a worthwhile tradeoff.
The British and Germans have done it historically, the Swedes still do it, and the US at least tested
the idea before they settled on going from 5 to 4 with the adoption of the Abrams.
But now, Israel has two. Based on this 2006 article from Defense Update, at that time
the Israelis were pondering reducing the tank company from 11 tanks to 7 with the adoption
of the Merkava Mk 4M. The idea was to have sections of 2 tanks operating autonomously,
enabled by the technology and capability of the new Mk 4Ms. It seems the current state is an
evolution of that pondering, but with 4 platoons instead of 3, and 2 HQ tanks instead of 1.
This shift may be explained by this 2019 National Interest article, which I know,
National Interest, but they did at least talk directly to Israeli armor officers. In it it’s
basically stated that Israel’s current threat environment isn’t the same as it was in the 1970s,
when thousands of tanks flowing over the border was the main threat. Rather,
it’s really a more asymmetric environment, with an engineer and infantry focus supported in a
more decentralized fashion by individual tank platoons. One veteran told me that
in his experience, most peacetime missions were either patrols or static border guard missions.
Those missions can be adequately served by 2 tanks rather than 3 or 4. But at the same time,
an officer with the proper tactical training and security clearance is still required.
Additionally, fewer tanks per platoon means more platoons which means more options for
attaching tanks to other units or generating more independent patrols. Veterans I talked
to referenced either the smallness of Israel’s military or the limited number of Merkava 4Ms in
service due to its disproportionate expense, and smaller platoons is a way to stretch them. Now,
I mainly talked to conscripts and NCOs, so this could all be low-level perceptions
rather than the high-level doctrinal rationale, but it makes sense to me.
In armor-centric combat, you could maybe argue that a 4th platoon could
give company commanders the ability to form a reserve. That was a justification
for some Cold War militaries to go to 3-tank platoons.
But in my talks with an Israeli veteran, he said when the tank company is operating
as a whole for a more armor-centric attack, the company can either maneuver as a whole,
or be split up into 2 groups of platoons, one under the CO and one under the XO. Pretty
similar to a 5-tank platoon, which was more in-vogue during the Cold War and World War II.
So it seems to be one of those hyper-specific adaptations Israel can make because it’s Israel,
and probably not something that could be generalized to a force
expected to operate in a wider range of environments, like the US Army.
But back to the company, there is a Company HQ tying the whole thing together. It has 2
tanks as described previously, one for the Commander and one for the Executive
Officer. In terms of how these are manned, I’ve heard different things from different veterans.
One told me that the company training NCO, equivalent to a US Army Master Gunner,
rides in the CO’s tank in the loaders hatch. The training NCO is actually the assigned commander
of the tank, so in combat that Merkava has 5 crewmembers. They are basically the
conscript tank commander who is most proficient in gunnery and goes through a master gunners course.
However, another veteran told me that both the CO and XO tanks have a dedicated tank commander
who sits in the commander’s position, while the CO and XO lead from the loaders hatch.
That method implies the CO is really focused on leading the company, while the TC fights
the tank. If they have to button up, the CO or XO can crawl back into the rear compartment,
which for a limited amount of time doesn’t require the ammo pods to be removed. However,
if the company’s medic rides with the HQ tanks, an ammo pod would most likely be taken out.
In addition to the tanks, the company has an M113 APC that carries about 6 repair
technicians specialized in different parts of the tank, like mechanical, electrical, radio,
etc. The company medic can also ride in there during wartime, but this might vary unit to unit.
As well, the company has a Jeep Wrangler and an Isuzu D-Max for light transportation and
logistics in a garrison or safe-area setting. The Jeep Wrangler is driven by the CO’s driver,
although in practice the company HQ’s tank crew will know how to drive it,
while the D-Max is for the Company Sergeant who is essentially a logistics NCO. Although during
war time, they’d join the battalion trains to coordinate forward sustainment for the company.
And yes, the newest Wranglers and D-Maxs in IDF service are basically
dealership vehicles in black and white. You can find pictures of the D-Max and
jeep variants called the Storm in the drab paint, but I’ve been told this
is considered a waste for vehicles that aren’t intended to be in combat anyway.
At the battalion-level, the Israeli Armor Battalion has a Support Company—which is
essentially a headquarters and service company—2 active tank companies, 1 maneuver support company
(referred to me as an infantry company but it’s a little different), and 1 reserve tank company.
Note according to one veteran I talked to, those reserve tank companies may
be centralized at the brigade-level and only dolled out to the battalions during wartime.
According to another, he hadn’t seen the reserves training on their own tanks,
but rather tanks loaned from the active companies.
Meanwhile, the infantry company is really more like the British concept of maneuver
support, originally a humvee recon and mechanized mortar formation. However,
I’ve been told the intent is to turn them into a sort of “smart” infantry unit,
with Namer APCs, drones, and a fire support NCO. Although details on that are pretty shaky.
The next level up is the brigade, which generally consists of 3 armor battalions,
1 armored engineer battalion, and signal company. They used to have a dedicated reconnaissance
company as well, but these were integrated into the armor battalion maneuver support companies.
Dedicated infantry are contained within infantry brigades at the division level.
As far as active armored brigades, there’s the 7th and 188th brigades under the 36th Division,
which also has the 1st Golani Infantry Brigade and 282nd Artillery Regiment,
as well as the 401st Armor Brigade under the 162nd Division,
which also has the 84th and 933rd Infantry Brigades, and 215th Artillery Regiment.
There is also the 460th brigade, but this is the training unit hosting
Israel’s armor school. I’m told that in war time, their cadre could be used to
provide tank and APC commanders across the force. In addition to these active forces,
there are 7 reserve armor brigades, mostly equipped with Merkava Mk 3s.
Now as for the tactical markings, the Israelis really leave it all
out there so you can figure out exactly what unit a tank is in.
At the lowest level, platoons and individual tanks are normally identified via a number and letter on
their side of their turret and their front right and rear left mud flaps. Platoons are numbered 1,
2, 3 and 4, with the commander marked by their platoon number and their wingman
marked by their platoon plus the letter B. The company commander’s tank is marked with a Gimel,
equivalent to Charlie. The XO’s tank meanwhile is marked with a D, and the APC is marked with a 9.
The Battalion Commander tank likewise is marked with a 10C, and the battalion XO with 11C.
The tank’s company is distinguished by the orientation of the arrows on the side paneling.
Downwards facing means 1st Company, forwards is 2nd, upwards is 3rd, and rearwards is 4th. This is
repeated on the mudguards next to the platoon and tank designations as a series of horizontal lines.
However, different brigades number their companies differently. For example,
in the 7th brigade, Tank Companies are the 1st and 3rd. 2nd is the maneuver support company,
and 4th is the headquarters and service company.
The tank’s battalion is distinguished by the number of rings on the cannon barrel,
1, 2 or 3. This is repeated as a numeral on the opposite mudguard.
And finally, the tank’s brigade is distinguished by the symbol surrounding the battalion number
on the mudguards. A square represents the 401st, a shield the 7th, and a star the 188th brigade.
So for example, this tank is the B tank of 1st Platoon, 3rd Company, 2nd Battalion,
401st Armor Brigade. Meanwhile, this Merkava is also the B tank, but of 2nd Platoon, 3rd Company,
3rd Battalion, 188th Brigade. And the head of this column appears to be the commander of
1st Platoon, 1st Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Armor Brigade.
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