Merkava Mk1

Merkava Mk1
Country	Israel
Type	Main battle tank
In service	1978–present
Built	250 Mk1

The Merkava is a main battle tank used by the Israel Defense Forces. The tank began development in 1973 and entered active service in 1978. Four main versions of the tank have been deployed. It was first used extensively in the 1982 Lebanon War. The “Merkava” name was derived from the IDF’s initial development program name.