Commanders!
Last week we unveiled the first vehicle of the upcoming “On the Hunt” Battle Path – the Bulsae-6 – and today’s the right time to move on to the second one. The second vehicle of the Battle Path is none other than the long-awaited Pereh.
Much like North Korea, Israel is notoriously secretive when it comes to its military technologies, which is why the existence of the Pereh Tank Destroyer only came to light relatively recently after years of service.
The word “Pereh” has two meanings in Hebrew – biblically it is used in the “wild man” sense (as in, untamed), while more literally, it means a wild donkey (specifically the Syrian kind native to the region). Whichever of these meanings is the intended one is hard to say, but what’s certain is that the Pereh is an Israeli missile launcher built on an obsolete hull of a Magach-5 Main Battle Tank, which we have a detailed article on as it is an existing Tier 4 Main Battle Tank in the game.
The development of the concept likely started right after the 1973 Yom Kippur War where, despite its eventual victory, Israel took heavy losses. One of the secret weapons developed in the aftermath was the Tamuz missile with first-person missile control (the origin of the word “Tamuz” is likely the Hebrew word Tammuz for the fourth month of the Hebrew calendar, roughly around June-July). The first models likely appeared around 1982. The missile was controlled by the operator via a direct link to a camera in its nose, leading to unprecedented accuracy and lethality, especially for the early 1980s. The range for different models was between 10km and 25km.
If you’re wondering where you heard this one before – that’s right; the Tamuz missile evolved over the years and is currently commercially offered on the market under the name Spike (or, more specifically, Spike NLOS). In this sense, the Spike ATGM has been around for more than four decades.
To keep the missile secret, the Israelis modified a number of older Magach-5 Main Battle Tanks to become missile carriers. The turret was completely overhauled to house a massive elevating missile launcher carrying twelve of these missiles. The launcher and its optics only extend when the vehicle is readying itself to fire them. To maintain the ruse, the launcher is then lowered along with the optics so that the vehicle continues to look like a tank. It even has a fake main gun, which really is just a pipe. In reality, however, the Pereh is only armed with its missiles and some machineguns.
The Pereh weighs some 50 tons. The hull is more or less similar to the M48 (or Magach-5) tank series but is covered with Blazer ERA and is protected on the sides by composite armor plates. The engine is likely the same AVDS-1790 as on the Magach, giving the vehicle analogical mobility. The turret, on the other hand, is heavily overhauled with more than half of it made from scratch. It’s likely not well-protected despite the presence of ERA modules – but this is a long-range vehicle, so it doesn’t need it all that much. The elevating launcher is stored inside.
The actual history of the Pereh is largely speculative. The vehicle is developed likely in the early 1980s and remained a well-guarded secret for three decades. Correspondingly, the amount of vehicle produced is unknown but likely quite low given its specialized and clandestine nature. The Tamuz missile was only made public in 2011 and the Pereh launcher itself was first photographed in 2013. It was officially shown to the public in 2015 and retired from service in 2017. Not much else is known about it.
It was used during the 2006 Lebanon War as well as the 2014 Gaza War, albeit not in an anti-tank role. The Tamuz-5 missiles have a high-explosive warhead variant that is well-suited for precise building demolition.
In Armored Warfare, Pereh will be a Tier 8 Premium Tank Destroyer.
Gameplay-wise, we’re looking at a vehicle that’s similar to the Bulsae-6 in the sense that this will be a missile carrier with no secondary weapons except for a machinegun. Pereh’s missiles will come in two kinds – the regular one and the first person missile control one. We’re still considering whether to add a high-explosive variant of the Tamuz missile or not and the decision will depend upon further testing.
All things considered, the vehicle is older than the Bulsae-6 and the Tamuz-5 missiles will have somewhat lower performance than the cutting edge Bulsae missiles (less penetration and damage). On the other hand, the vehicle will carry 12 instead of 8 in the launcher and will be better protected thanks to its ERA and (older) MBT-level armor. So the decision to put it one Tier lower really came down to its age rather than practicality, plus the fact that with the Pereh you’ll be able to use the missile ability on enemies one Tier lower than the Bulsae.
And that’s really it for the Pereh, commanders. We know you’ve been asking for it practically since the launch of the game and its time has finally come. Much like the Bulsae-6, the Pereh will be able to engage any target on the battlefield providing you play it right. We’re eager to show you the amazingly cool and weird animations the Pereh will come with as well as more first person missile control gameplay, but those will come in the future. For now we’d like to hear what you think and, as always:
See you on the battlefield!
