New Merkavas take up positions near Gaza

Southern Command is preparing for an increase in anti-tank missile attacks against patrols near the Gaza Strip.

By YAAKOV KATZ
Merkava tank anti missile 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Merkava tank anti missile 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
The Southern Command is preparing for an increase in anti-tank missile attacks against patrols near the Gaza Strip after the IDF last week completed the deployment of Merkava Mk. 4 tanks equipped with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’s Trophy active-protection system.
The Trophy was deployed together with Battalion 9 of the 401st Armored Brigade, which took up positions near Gaza last week, about a month after Hamas fired a Russian-made Kornet antitank missile at a Merkava.
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The missile penetrated the tank but none of the crew was injured.
On Tuesday, an explosion took place next to an IDF patrol near the Kissufim crossing into Gaza. The military is investigating whether it was an anti-tank missile or a roadside bomb. No one was injured.
The Trophy system creates a hemispheric protected zone around armored vehicles such as the Merkava tank, which operated prominently in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Using an advanced radar, the system is designed to detect and track a threat, normally an anti-tank missile, before intercepting it with a projectile.