In a general way, the M60 is very much an upgraded M48 and had the same issues and advantages which kept it in service for such a long period of time, even long surviving the introduction of the more advanced M1 Abrams. Now it is retired from US service, but some specialized variants are still active. Although considered very much like a 1st generation MBT, it was modernized as a 2nd generation MBT, on par with its European counterparts of the sixties, the British Chieftain, German Leopard and French AMX-30. With more than 15,000 built over a large period of time, modernized in various ways, it was still in service in the US in 1997 and is still frontline with many armies in the world today, a testimony to the soundness of the original design. If you spot anything out of place, please let us know!įor three decades, the M60 was the workhorse of the US Army, USMC, NATO’s and Allied or affiliated nations to the western block around the world. Hello dear reader! This article is in need of some care and attention and may contain errors or inaccuracies.
It was not officially named “Patton”, but it was the first officially named as a “main battle tank”, and not a medium tank. The OTCM (Ordnance Technical Committee Minutes) #37002 officially standardized the type as the 105 mm Gun Full Tracked Combat Tank M60.
It was nothing more than an evolution of the type but modified too extensively in too many ways to be considered by the US Ordnance a simple version of the latter. The M60 looks, at first glance, very much like the M48 designed five years earlier, and for good reasons.
Main Battle Tank – 15,000 Built A logical evolution of the M48
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