Makmat
Notes: The Makmat consists of a heavily-modified M-7 Priest (itself a heavily-modified M-4 Sherman tank), with the modifications designed to allow the Makmat to carry the Soltam 160mm mortar (an improved version of the old Soviet 160mm mortar). Though there were not many built, the Makmat mortar does fire a satisfying-heavy charge of explosives, and throws general mayhem downrange. Most of these vehicles are now museum pieces or have been sold to other countries; the last combat use of the Makmat by the Israelis occurred in 1982 in Lebanon. In addition to fire support, one of the primary missions of the Makmat was to provide battlefield illumination. This was especially important during the 1967 war, as most Israeli vehicles and troops did not have night vision equipment. They should perhaps get the title of “unsung hero,” as the illumination (and fire support) they provided made many of their night victories possible in that war.
The M-7 Priest base vehicle is essentially stripped down to its chassis; when the body is finished, the Makmat has a moderately-sloped glacis. The driver is behind this glacis, with the driver in the front of the vehicle near the bottom of the glacis. The driver has a hatch which locks open slightly above horizontal, or closes with the driver looking out through a vision slit near the top of his hatch. (Note that while the hatch is open, he is vulnerable to small-arms fire and shell fragments, particularly in the head, torso, and arms.) The commander is essentially in the same place he would be on a Priest, except that the pulpit-like stand is replaced by a more conventional hatch and stand. The commander’s position has fittings for a machinegun, and there is a ring mount, but in practice this is often not mounted. Instead, a pintle is mounted on either side of the rear gun space. The rest of the crew have seats in the rear; the rear area, behind the commander’s position, is open-topped. The back of the rear area is normally locked straight out to provide more space for the crew to work in when using the mortar; a ladder is mounted on this folding rear deck, and when the deck is folded up and closed for traveling, the ladder folds flat against the outside of the deck plate.
The suspension remains typical of a Sherman-series vehicle; however, the gasoline engine and manual transmission have been replaced with a 430-horsepower Cummins turbocharged diesel engine and an automatic transmission, with the driver having a conventional brake and gas pedal, a steering yoke, and a gearshift that can be used on the fly and allows operation in reverse, in the lower range of gears for steep hills or very rough terrain, or the upper range of gears for maximum speed. Essentially, the entire drive train has been removed in favor of the more modern drive train.
The Makmat mortar uses a heavy-gauge steel smoothbore barrel. The Makmat mortar is breech-loaded; loading such a large-caliber mortar by dropping heavy 160mm rounds down the barrel would be impossible to sustain in a tactical situation. To load the mortar, the barrel is lowered under by virtually the entire crew into its traveling position, opening the breech and allowing a round to be loaded. The mortar is then raised again, and the mortar is fired by lanyard. Raising the mortar back to firing position is relatively easy, as the mortar strut has a spring-loaded counterbalance mechanism. When the mortar is in the Makmat carrier, the baseplate’s traveling wheels are locked into the vehicle’s baseplate, with the offside wheel being used to allow rotation of the mortar. The mortar fires over the rear of the vehicle, but can be rotated through 360 degrees, with elevation and depression being from +70 to +43 degrees. When mounted in the carrier, the mortar’s baseplate is locked into the floor, and the baseplate can be readily removed if necessary. The mortar is supplied with two sights; one has less precise adjustments and is used for general bombardment; the other is used for more pinpoint bombardment, such as in MOUT fighting.
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