Hamas’ claims of destroying an Israeli tank are false

The explosion in the propaganda video was the result of an Israeli tank active defense system intercepting an anti-tank weapon.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day temporary ceasefire on November 22 (local time) and to release 50 hostages held by Hamas. During the negotiation process, Hamas requested a 5-day ceasefire, and Israel maintained its position that “there is no need for a ceasefire” and then proposed a “3-day ceasefire and the release of 50 hostages.” A four-day truce was reached to find a compromise, and judging from the attitudes of both sides during the negotiations, Israel was clearly the ‘better’. This proves that Hamas is not achieving the results it hoped for in this war. Just before the temporary ceasefire, Hamas’ immediate task was to prevent Israel from occupying the Gaza Strip, which it de facto controls. To achieve this goal, the key is to destroy as much armored equipment as possible, including tanks and armored vehicles, that Hamas does not have but only the Israeli military. The reason Hamas is on the defensive is because the anti-tank war is not going as planned.

Gaza Strip destroyed by Israeli air strikes. The Palestinian armed faction Hamas claimed to have destroyed several Israeli armored vehicles, but no remains were found. [뉴시스]

If the 1991 Gulf War opened the era of ‘wars broadcast live on the news,’ the Russia-Ukraine War opened the era of ‘wars broadcast live on social network services (SNS).’ With the development of information and communication technology and the spread of smartphones, we have become a world where the battle situation on the front line can be seen in almost real time from the other side of the world. Soldiers who fight directly on the battlefield also use smartphones, and sometimes use SNS to understand the situation of the war that higher-ranking units do not inform them of. The Internet space has become a place for information sharing and a space for fierce propaganda battles. Ukraine and Russia are still claiming victory by uploading videos of enemy tanks and armored vehicles destroyed by front-line soldiers filmed with smartphones or drones on social media almost every day. As all kinds of propaganda and manipulation are rampant, there are now experts who can analyze the video and deduce not only the coordinates and time at which it was filmed, but also which unit the tank said to have been destroyed belongs to.

Most of the videos of tank and armored vehicles being destroyed on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield show similar content. First, it begins with a scene where the enemy armored vehicle is identified and an anti-tank missile or rocket is launched. An armored vehicle hit by an anti-tank weapon will be engulfed in flames or its turret blown off with a huge explosion. If the armored vehicle crew is lucky enough to survive, they may be seen escaping. In the recent Russian-Ukrainian war, only videos containing ‘identification → hit → explosion → confirmation of destruction’ are recognized as a criminal record for ‘destruction of enemy armored vehicles.’

The propaganda war of filming and releasing videos of enemy equipment being destroyed also appears in the Israel-Hamas war. Both sides film fierce battle scenes every day and post them on social media, claiming that the situation is going in their favor. In particular, Hamas is waging a large-scale propaganda campaign by filming itself attacking Israeli tanks and armored vehicles with various anti-tank weapons. However, Hamas’ videos all have strange characteristics that are different from those released by Ukraine or Russia. The final step in ‘identification → hit → explosion → confirmation of destruction’ is missing.

The Hamas armed group Al-Qassam Brigades claims that “since the Israeli army began its ground war in the Gaza Strip, hundreds of its tanks and armored vehicles have been destroyed.” At the same time, they are releasing videos every day of them attacking Israeli armored vehicles with their North Korean-made ‘Phoenix-2’ anti-tank missiles or RPG-7 anti-tank rockets. What these videos have in common is that they end with a huge explosion occurring in a tank or armored vehicle. As Hamas claims, did Israel really lose hundreds of armored vehicles in ground battles over the past month or so?

A scene from an anti-tank rocket interception test of a Korean active protection system (APS). [국방과학연구소 제공]

Hamas does not have proper tanks or artillery. The only anti-tank weapons they use are missiles or rockets using anti-tank high explosive (HEAT) warheads, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) made by combining and modifying several mortar shells or explosives. Israeli tanks and armored vehicles are made of composite armor made of special alloys such as steel, ceramic, and tungsten, making them difficult to destroy with explosives. The HEAT warhead is a shaped charge, that is, a directional explosive that focuses the explosion energy in a specific direction by forming the explosive inside the warhead concavely. HEAT, which uses the Monroe-Neumann effect, concentrates all explosive power in one direction when the warhead explodes. This creates a high-temperature, high-pressure metal jet stream that penetrates the armor plate. If the armor is thin, these metal jets turn the armored vehicle into a sea of ​​fire, exploding the ammunition inside it, and if the armor is thick, the shock waves peel off the inner wall of the vehicle body and kill the crew. In other words, if Hamas had really destroyed hundreds of Israeli armored vehicles with anti-tank weapons, the Israeli army would have suffered at least a few hundred casualties and as many as over 1,000 casualties among tankers and mechanized infantry by now. This is because an Israeli tank can accommodate 4 people, and an armored vehicle can accommodate 12 people.

Every day, whenever a death occurs, Israel provides real-time notification to the media and bereaved families of who died in which unit, where, and how. Because many of the troops are reserve forces with cell phones, it is impossible to hide the number of dead or injured. As of November 21, 68 Israeli soldiers were killed in street fighting in the Gaza Strip. Most of these men were infantrymen, and were killed during combat in residential areas. To date, there has been only one case of an Israeli soldier being killed by an explosion in an armored vehicle attacked by Hamas. This is a Namer armored vehicle belonging to the 84th ‘Givati’ Brigade that was destroyed by a ‘Yasin-105’ rocket launched by Hamas during an independent operation outside the Jabalia refugee camp on October 31. So what exactly is the identity of the explosion in the numerous videos released by Hamas, claiming that it “destroyed the Israeli army’s armored vehicle”?

The secret is contained in a video of a Merkava Mk.4M tank platoon’s engagement, filmed and released by the Israeli military as it advanced on the northern coastal area of ​​the Gaza Strip on November 5. Two Israeli tanks appear in this video. While a fellow tank at the 11 o’clock position of the tank the photographer was riding was attacking an enemy position with a machine gun, the side was hit twice by large explosions. If the explosion had been caused by the turret being hit, the tank would have been destroyed and the entire crew inside would have been killed. However, in this video, the attacked tank moved again without any scratches and continued firing at the enemy lines. And the Active Protection System (APS) ‘Trophy’ is clearly visible on the side of this tank turret.

Trophy is a kind of ‘mini Aegis system’. It is a defense system that installs a four-sided fixed phased array radar on the outside of an armored vehicle and links a mission computer and an interceptor launcher. Trophy monitors the surroundings with radar, and when it identifies a metal object approaching at high speed, it shoots an interceptor in that direction and shoots it down. It is a defensive equipment that has been proven several times in combat, and its quick reaction speed is a particular strength. It detects an RPG-7 that was launched by surprise at a distance of about 10 meters and is capable of destroying not only the RPG-7 but also the gunner who fired the rocket. The explosion of an Israeli tank or armored vehicle in the video released by Hamas occurred when an anti-tank weapon exploded after being hit by an APS interceptor.

Hamas claims that it has destroyed hundreds of Israeli armored vehicles, but no destroyed Merkava tanks or Namer armored vehicles have been seen anywhere in the Gaza Strip. If Hamas’s claims are true, there is no way burning Israeli tanks or armored vehicles would not be found at the battle site in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live. Israel is honestly disclosing the destroyed tanks and armored vehicles. These vehicles were either destroyed in a surprise attack by Hamas on the first day of the war, or damaged after stepping on a high-yield IED or anti-tank mine during an urban battle. This means that there are virtually no Israeli tanks or armored vehicles that Hamas has defeated in actual combat.

Although it varies depending on the purchaser and quantity, the price of the trophy, including the cost of installation on the tank, is approximately 900,000 to 1.2 million dollars (approximately 1.17 billion to 1.56 billion won). If the contract includes interceptor bombs and follow-up logistics support, it is expensive equipment worth $2 million (approximately 2.6 billion won) per set. In addition, it cannot be attached to any vehicle because it must be equipped with a radar that consumes a lot of power and a separate control system. The reason Israel equips most of its tanks and armored vehicles with such expensive equipment is because it is a country where people are precious.

Israel, which had fought several times against Arab countries with a huge numerical superiority since the ‘Founding War’ (First Middle East War) in 1948, suffered a great psychological shock to the entire society every time one person was killed. In particular, after the Fourth Middle East War in 1973, when the Egyptian army suffered anti-tank missile attacks, Israel invested heavily in strengthening the survivability of armored equipment. Trophy is a defense system that emerged in this historical context and has been deployed since 2010. The Trophy, which cost the equivalent of one armored vehicle when it first appeared, saw its first combat in the Gaza Strip in 2011. At the time, the Trophy was recognized for its value as it successfully protected tanks. Accordingly, the Israeli military installed trophies on almost all tanks and armored vehicles deployed on the front lines. Recently, a lightweight version for installation in general vehicles was also released.

Korea, like Israel, is a country with extremely valuable military service resources. It is a divided country and a country with one of the highest chances of war breaking out in the world. Nevertheless, a perverse social climate that belittles and despises soldiers is widespread. It is difficult to take pride in performing military service, and military morale is not high. The political world is pouring out benevolent policies, such as raising salaries to improve the treatment of soldiers and boost their morale. However, they are very stingy when it comes to introducing equipment that will protect the lives of military personnel when they actually go to the battlefield. To be precise, it is suspicious that there is no awareness of the need to purchase such equipment.

During the development of the K2 tank, the Korean military has already developed the K-APS, which is as good as the Trophy, and completed performance tests. However, at the time, the price of K-APS was equivalent to the price of one armored vehicle. Even though the Korean military developed an APS with excellent performance, its introduction was postponed due to lack of budget and insufficient doctrine and tactics. For this reason, even though it has been more than 10 years since K-APS was developed, it has not yet been installed on any tank or vehicle. The current price of one set of K-APS is known to be around 2 billion won. It is more expensive than the K808 armored vehicle, which costs 1.7 billion won per unit. However, considering the lives of the 12 soldiers riding in this armored vehicle, it is not expensive at all. Instead of buying one less armored vehicle, the K808, which will penetrate all types of anti-tank weapons that North Korea has, it would be better to purchase a K-APS and attach it to another armored vehicle.

North Korean troops training to fire anti-tank weapons. North Korea possesses a large amount of anti-tank weapons, some of which are believed to have been provided to Russia and Hamas. [뉴시스]

In videos reporting on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, soldiers from both countries are often seen perched precariously on the outside of old Soviet-made armored vehicles. Frontline soldiers are well aware that older armored vehicles do not protect them. Therefore, armored vehicles are used only as a means of transportation, not as a means of protection. If you are in an armored vehicle and are hit by an anti-tank weapon, you will die without any chance of escape, so you are prepared to be hit by an enemy bullet. This weak defense is similar to the Korean military’s K200 and K808·806 armored vehicles.

North Korea possesses far more anti-tank weapons than Hamas, as well as the Russian or Ukrainian forces. In times of emergency, Korean soldiers have no choice but to be fully exposed to that threat. None of the K1 series tanks, which cost over 5 billion won per unit, the K2 tank, which costs close to 10 billion won, the K21, which costs 3.5 billion won, or the K806/808 armored vehicles, which cost 1.2 to 1.7 billion won, are free from the threat of North Korean anti-tank weapons. If a defenseless armored vehicle is hit by an anti-tank weapon, it explodes, killing the entire crew inside. All military service members are someone’s beloved family members and precious citizens of the Republic of Korea. If those in power are truly concerned about the people and military personnel, they should take the lessons of this Israel-Hamas war to heart and take action.

〈This article
Weekly Donga

It was published in issue 1416〉

Shin In-gyun, CEO of Independent Defense Network

Source: Donga

Mark

Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.