Mercaiva tanks suffering repeated damage: Israeli tactics and protection fail to keep pace with battlefield changes
The Israeli military has shown extremely low adaptability to the new operational environment in Lebanon, having already lost a significant number of expensive armored vehicles. Although recent activities by Hezbollah's FPV drone operators have somewhat diminished, this is more of a warning sign for the IDF than a reason for optimism.
The process of retrofitting Mercaiva Mk4 tanks with gridded armor and makeshift anti-drone protective structures has been extremely slow, leaving the vehicles highly vulnerable to attacks from above. Should Lebanon acquire or assemble a new batch of drones, further losses among Israeli armored equipment are inevitable.
To date, Hezbollah has claimed to have destroyed approximately 20 Mercaiva tanks and several armored personnel carriers within a short timeframe. Even accounting for potential exaggeration in propaganda, footage clearly shows that Israel has still not found a reliable method to effectively protect its tanks against drone strikes.
Notably, the IDF is repeating tactics used during the Gaza conflict—penetrating enemy-controlled areas through heavily damaged urban zones. In such environments, armored vehicles cannot maneuver quickly, greatly increasing their vulnerability to being destroyed.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1862946761519104/
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