The M60: America’s Best Tank Ever?

And the reasons seem clear.

Kyle Mizokami,The National Interest

The M60 tank was a classic example of how a progressive system of upgrades can keep a weapon system viable for a half century or more. While the M60 was an early case of this, as time goes by the majority of the Pentagon’s hardware is taking this route, as the M16 rifle becomes the M4 carbine, and air force tankers and bombers built in the 1960s prepare to fly into the 2020s. Even the M1 Abrams, first introduced alongside the M60A3 TTS, has gone through several rounds of upgrades. The M60 looks likely to serve into the third decade of the twenty-first century—or further.

During the Cold War, one U.S. Army main battle tank served longer and fought on more battlefields than any other. While the world is familiar with the now-iconic M1 Abrams tank, the M60 tank served during an important time in American history, defending key American allies and provided the U.S. Army in Europe with a solid, dependable tank to fend off the armored hordes of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. A descendant of Korean War era tanks, the M60 was an example of how incremental advances in military technology could progressively better fighting machines.

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The M60 tank was originally based on the M48 Patton tank. Fielded in the early 1950s and itself based on the M47 and M46 tanks, the Patton featured advanced fire control that gave it nearly a 50 percent chance of a first round hit at 1,500 meters, a reduction in crew from five to four, and a hemispherical turret that gave excellent crew protection. The downside of the M48 was a mediocre 90-millimeter main gun and appallingly bad range (seventy miles). Despite these mixed reviews the Patton was rushed into production in 1953.