Nope, Mercava MK4 has best crew survability, not armor
protection. It is considerably less well armored then some western
tanks but it's crew protection and system redundancy is far better,
so while it's easier to penetrate and damage or disable, it's
harder to knock out the crew. The Merc is a special case, in which
the designers did not follow the tank "triange" of speed, firepower
and protection, but rather designed in crew protection as a new
aspect seperate from actual tank protection. A tank "square" was
the term the main designer behind the Merc said.
In terms of more conventional tanks though. The Abrams armour is
certainly heavier then the Challanger 2, the clumsly Challanger 2
lacks the DU package that enhances the protection of the Chobhamm.
Mobility of the Abrams is top notch, second only to Leopard,
marginally... However it's the technology that makes it argubably,
if placed in the hands of a competent tank crew, the deadilest tank
around. Tank crews of similar skill are going to be more effective
in an Abrams then if they were mucking around in a Leopard or
Challanger, which electronically, is pretty much dumb and deaf and
chaotic next to the IVIS Abrams.
