Why the Ancient M60 Tank Still Could Win on Any Battlefield

Summary: Today, the M60 continues to serve in the armies of 17 different countries, thanks to its adaptability and upgrade potential. Key variants still in use include the M60A1 and M60A3.

The Ageless M60

At the beginning of the Korean War, the Americans made a painful realization: Their tanks were inferior to Soviet tanks, both in quality and quantity. The U.S. would need to improve if they were going to contest the Communist forces to the north.

The result of the U.S.’s tank-related soul-searching was the M60 Patton – a tank that was designed in a torrential rush without being subjected to standard testing protocols.

The end result, naturally, was a poorly tested, poorly understood, and hence flawed tank platform – the M60, a second-generation tank that has been in service ever since, participating in many wars and performing admirably at times on the battlefield.

The History of the M60 Tank

The M60 made its combat debut in 1973 with the Israel Defense Forces during the Yom Kippur War. Less than a decade later, the Israelis would use the M60 again, this time in the Lebanon War of 1982. The U.S. would not use the M60 until the invasion of Grenada, a famously lopsided engagement in which the United States deployed the most robust military in world history to overwhelm a speck on the map in the Caribbean.

The U.S. would more properly apply the M60 in Operation Desert Storm, which happened to feature some of world history’s biggest tank battles – the Battle of Medina Ridge and the Battle of Norfolk. The U.S. Marine Corps used the M60 during Desert Storm, racking up 100 enemy tank kills while only losing one M60. 

However, the M60 was not the U.S.’s go-to tank in the effort to eject Saddam from Kuwait. Rather, the U.S. relied first and foremost on the M1 Abrams. 

After Saddam was ejected from Kuwait, the M60, already 30 years old, was retired from frontline service with the U.S. Army. By the end of the decade, in 1997, the M60 would be retired from the National Guard as well, ending its 40-year standing as a key tank platform of the U.S. cavalry. But the M60 still serves today with 17 different countries around the world.  

M60: Still in Service Today

The M60 is still usable thanks to a robust design and the ease with which the platform can be upgraded. Two variants specifically are still in service, the M60A1 and the M60A3. Egypt is the world’s leading user of the M60, employing over 1,000 of the tanks in its army.

Turkey has the world’s second-largest M60 fleet, although it operates a heavily modified version of the M60A1 known as the Sabra Mk II. Turkey’s upgrades suggest how easy the M60 is to retrofit for modern combat.

The Sabra Mk II has an upgraded main gun, the IMI MG252, which is an Israeli-made smoothbore 120 mm L44 gun, fused onto the M60’s turret. The Sabra also incorporates composite and explosive reactive armor modules on the turret and hull, options that were not available when the M60 first rolled off the assembly line.

In a testament to the M60’s longevity, Jordan will upgrade its M60s even while retiring its fleet of Challenger I tanks, which are 25 years newer than the M60. 

About the Author: Harrison Kass 

Harrison Kass is a senior defense editor with over 1,000 published articles. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, he joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison has degrees from Lake Forest College, the University of Oregon School of Law, and New York University’s Graduate School of Arts & Science. He lives in Oregon and regularly listens to Dokken.

All images are Creative Commons and Shuttestock.