M60 Tank Reference

MERDC Winter Verdant

MERDC Summer Verdant

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MERDC Snow With Trees Camouflage

MERDC Snow With Open Terrain (on an M60A2)

MERDC Grey Desert

MERDC Red Desert

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Posted by Rob Gronovius, a former M60A3 tanker and top-notch model builder, at Finescale Modeler.

The M60 series consists of four basic versions; the original M60, also called the “Slick 60”, M60A0 or “A-nothing”. It had an M60 hull and modified M48 turret. It is very similar to the final version of the M48 series tanks with a 105 gun instead of the M48’s 90 mm. A lot of people will mistake an M60A-nothing with an M48A5, including old 19E tankers.

The Slick 60 served for decades in USAR and ARNG units, so the tank continued to receive upgrades that appear on later versions of the M60A1 or M60A3.

The next version is the M60A1 which served even longer and received so many upgrades that it would take a book to list them all. The final version of the M60A1 used by the USMC was the M60A1 RISE/Passive which served during Desert Storm.

The M60A2 had the shortest life and used a funky looking turret that fired the 152 mm Shellelagh missile or a canister round. Most of those tanks had the turret removed and became AVLB bridge launchers.

The M60A3TTS was the final version used by the Army. They added a Tank Thermal Sight (TTS) that was very effective and a laser range finder (LRF). There are a few more upgrades, but mechanically it was virtually identical to the M60A1 RISE/Passive. The improvements were to the fire control system versus the automotive capabilities.

The main visual differences between the two main variants, the M60A1 and M60A3, are that the A3 has a thermal sight housing (aka “dog house”), the thermal shroud on the main gun, crosswind sensor mast, and the laser range finder housing in the left side sight bubble on the side of the turret.

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To piggyback on what Gino said:

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M60A1 Tank Optical Sight.

M60A3 TTS Optical Sight and Wind Sensor.

This is the thermal sight unit.

As it is located in the gunner’s station.

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M60A3 TTS in Turkish Service.

M60T “Sabra”.

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M60A3 TTS in Greek (Hellenic) service:

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Last one is Turkish. Also notice the tracks, they are not T142 but locally produced T517 tracks seen on M48A5T2 and M60 variants

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Thanks for the correction. I had a feling it wasn’t really Hellenic.

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Hellenic Army registration plates have the national insignia on the right edge

Turkish Army

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Good to know. The proper registration plate detail is a good reference. Thanks for posting it. :+1:

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Republic of China (Taiwan) Army and Marine Corps M60A1 and M60A3:

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Some more Turkish Army photos

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You can easily recognize the Turkish tanks (aside from the unique two-color camo pattern or mustard yellow and dark green) by the German made smoke dischargers.

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It is a three tone camo, yellow, green and black.

The Wegmann launchers are pretty nice and easy to use.

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The Lebanese Army has a very interesting M60A3 variant in service






























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The Lebanese M60s are really clean-looking. Thanks for posting. :slight_smile:

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They also have an Improved Fire Control System, notice the different gunner’s sight.

Do we consider the CM-11 a M60 or M48 variant?

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Oh yea! I just noticed that.

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Good question. The CM-11 “Brave Tiger” features an M48A3 turret on an M60A3 hull and it uses the fire control system of the early M1 Abrams. Some models even featured an indigenous-designed ERA system. But I think because of it’s designation (M-48H), it wouldn’t meet the criteria.

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Good question. It is an M60 hull w/an M48 turret, sort of like an updated M60A0. It also has an M60A3 barrel and Abrams fire control system. I say M60 variant. It is an interesting version.

From Wikipedia -

"The Republic of China (Taiwan) established the Armored Vehicle Development Center in 1980, and was tasked to develop military armored vehicles, and had cooperated with General Dynamics to develop the CM-11. The development of the tank has two main purposes, first was to avoid the limitations set by the US-PRC Joint Communique (17 August Communique), and second was to allow the ROCA to acquire second-generation MBTs.

The CM-11 is a hybrid tank using the M48A3 turret with the M60A3 tank hull, combined with the new M1 Abrams tank’s fire control system (FCS). The United States designated it as M48H, where the “H” means Hybrid, and the Republic of China designated it CM-11 and named it Brave Tiger."


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Alright then…

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