5. Merkava IVm (Israel)
The Merkava, or ‘chariot’ is Israel’s main military tank, and was first developed in 1973. The Merkava tank officially joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1978. The Merkava was designed and conceptualized with a number of criteria in mind including but not limited to rapid repair of battle damages, survivability, cost-effectiveness and off-road performance.
A number of versions of the Merkava were made available to the Israel Defense Forces, and the latest in the long list of upgrades is the Merkava IVm, including the Merkava IVm Windbreaker. This is a variant of the Merkava IVm which features the Trophy active protection system or the APS. With the addition of this protection system for the Merkava tank, the tank becomes one of the most efficient tanks around, at least in terms of repelling enemy attacks like RPG rounds and guided missiles.