Brazilian army M60A3 TTS main battle tank in the field in 2021.
Source: Exército Brasileiro -
© GNU Attribution - Share Alike license
The M60 Patton is an early Cold War era main battle tank of US origin. The M60 was developed as a product-improved M48 Patton. The M60 and its variants served in large numbers throughout the Cold War with US forces and various allies. Interestingly, the M60 might be the best known Patton tank while officially not Patton family.
The M60 Patton is a deep modernization of the M48A2 Patton tank. Whereas the M48 has a boat-shaped hull front the M60 has a sleek welded plate hull front. This was to accommodate a type of armor composition that was eventually never used due to production difficulties. The original M60 has a small round turret similar to the M48. The improved M60A1 and A3 models feature the distinctive elongated turret with commander's cupola.
The main armament of the M60 Patton is the manually loaded 105mm M68 rifled gun. This is a license produced version of the British L7. It differs in having a vertical sliding breech block and eccentric fume extractor due to the tall engine deck of the M60. Coaxial armament consists of a 7.62mm M73 or M219 vehicle machine gun. In the latest updates this was replaced by the more reliable M240 coaxial machine gun. The large commander's cupola houses the 12.7mm M85 heavy machine gun.
The M60 Patton features a cast hull with rolled steel glacis plate. The turret of the original M60 is nearly similar to the M48A2. The M60A1 introduced an improved armor package with a thicker glacis plate and new elongated turret design with substantial improved frontal armor thickness. This brings the M60A1 on par with the M103 heavy tank over the frontal arc. In Israeli service and with the US marine corps several types of explosive reactive armor packages were employed. The latest types of Israeli applique armor packages alter the appearance of the M60 significantly.
The M60 Patton has a reasonable mobility. The tracked chassis allows it to traverse difficult terrain. The maximum road speed is quite limited at only 48 km/h. This makes the M60 different from the European doctrine of mobility as shown by the German Leopard 1 and French AMX-30.
The M60 Patton was adopted in large numbers as the standard main battle tank of the US army and US marine corps. It was also widely exported to US allies, but with limited use by European nations since various local designs were introduced at the same time. Many older types of M60 were upgraded to M60A3 and A3 TTS standard for domestic use and export sales. Israel acquired large numbers and carried out several domestic deep modernization programs. The M60 remains in use with several nations. In US service the newer M1 Abrams replaced the M60 Patton.
Original production model as introduced in 1960. Features a small turret derived from the M48 Patton design. Just over 2.200 produced.
Improved variant with the larger turret. First introduced in 1962. Most common production model with nearly 8.000 produced.
Upgrades various times during its service life. Most notably with stabilization (AOS) and reliability improvements (RISE). About half of the M60A1 were upgraded to M60A3 for domestic use and export sales.
The M60A3 is an upgrade over the M60A1. It features enhanced turret armor, all of the RISE upgrades, improved gun stabilization, improved fire control system and new selection of 105mm ammunition. When fitted with the AN/VSG2 Tank Thermal Sight (TTS) for the gunner the tank is known as the M60A3 TTS.
Combat engineer vehicle based on M60 Patton chassis.
Bridge laying vehicle based on M60 Patton chassis. Launches a 19 m scissor bridge with 54 t capacity.
Israeli deep modernization of the original M60 Patton with small style turret. The Magach 7A can be identified by the angular flat-faced turret armor.
Further upgrade of Magach 7A with improved wedge shaped turret armor. Believed to be converted in larger numbers than the Magach 7A.
The main armament of the M60 Patton is the 105mm M68 rifled gun, a license produced derivative of the Royal Ordnance L7.
The 12.7mm M85 is fitted in the commander's cupola on top of the turret. It has a selectable rate of fire and is known as less reliable than the M2HB.
Most vehicles were fitted with the M73 coaxial machine gun, which was upgraded to M219 standard for improved reliability.
Late model M60A3's are fitted with the M240 coaxial machine gun.
© WeaponSystems.net | All rights reserved.