including new belly armor, Merkava tracks, new fire controls, a thermal sleeve for the gun and smoke grenades, eventually resulting in the Magach 6b (Bet) and ultimate 6b Gal Batash and equivalent Magach 7c Gimel models. Since the 1980s and 1990s, the Magachs have been gradually replaced by Merkava tanks as Israel's front-line main battle tank. However, a large majority of the IDF's armored corps continued to consist of Magach variants until the 1990s, and the tank was continuously upgraded during this time. By 2006, all Magachs in regular units had been replaced by Merkavas. In July 2015, Israel officially unveiled the existence of the Pereh missile carrier. The Pereh is a guided missile carrier disguised as a tank. A Magach is converted into a Pereh tank destroyer by replacing the main battle gun with an anti-tank guided missile launch station. The original turret is enlarged to install a launcher under armor for 12 "Tamuz" Spike NLOS missiles, which can destroy targets out to . Disguised as a standard tank, the Pereh is fitted with a fake cannon barrel to the front, but can be identified easily by the curved antenna mounted at the rear on the roof of the turret, which is erected in firing position; additional features include add-on frontal armor and stowage boxes on the turret sides. Pictures of the Pereh were first released during Operation Protective Edge in July 2014. Source of the name "Magach" Contrary to a popular belief, "Magach" is not an abbreviation but a Hebrew word meaning "battering-ram". However, as the word is very rarely used and is not known to many Hebrew speakers, several popular explanation backronyms of the name exist: Short for Merkevet Giborei Hayil (, literally Chariots of War Heroes). One version states that the real source of the name is the designation M48A3 (in Gematria, 40 is "mem" ("m"), 8 is "chet" ("ch") and 3 is "gimel" ("g")). Like the above, but "g" stands for Germany, a supplier of the first M48 tanks to Israel. Yet another version says that M48A3 can be read as MAgAch (4 looks like "A", 8 like "g" etc.). A once popular macabre joke in the IDF said that "Magach" stands for "Movil Gviyot Charukhot"—"charred bodies carrier", probably referring to the Yom Kippur War losses and particularly to the aforementioned flammable hydraulic fluid problem of the M48. Other variants include "Meshupa Gahon" (one with