The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are armed with the heavy tracked armored personnel carrier "Achzarit" (production began in 1988). It was created on the basis of Soviet tanks T-55, captured from Arab countries during armed conflicts. This is according to Bulgarian Military.
It is surprising why Soviet and Russian engineers did not come up with the idea of creating a mass heavy tracked armored personnel carrier before the Israelis. There were all the prerequisites for this: real combat experience, industrial capabilities, huge reserves of T-54/55 and T-62 tanks.
APCs based on the Soviet T-55 tank would have appeared much faster. Russian engineers would not have had to spend years developing and testing the BMP "Boomerang" and "Kurganets", according to journalists at Bulgarian Military.
"Achzarit" became the world's first heavily armored transporter. Currently, the Israel Defense Forces are armed with over 100 of these APCs.
"Achzarit" is actively used where it is impossible to move on M113.
Comparison of characteristics of the Soviet T-55 tank and the "Achzarit" APC:
- Combat weight: 36 tons / 44 tons
- Engine power: 580 hp / 850 hp
- Armor: Rolled homogeneous, cast / steel homogeneous, reactive
- Crew: 4 people / 3 people
- Armament: 100-mm gun D-10T2S, Paired 7.62-mm machine gun and course machine gun SGMT, Anti-aircraft 12.7-mm machine gun DShKM / 4 machine guns caliber 7.62-mm
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