M60 Patton Main Battle Tank

M60 Patton Main Battle Tank
The M60 "Patton" Main Battle Tank began development in 1957 to counter rumors that the Soviets were working on a new main battle tank of their own armed with a 115mm smoothbore main gun. With this armament, the Soviet offering was capable of outgunning the latest M48 Patton series, then the staple of the American armored corps. The Soviet design turned out to be the "T-62" tank which began formal service in 1961 and went on to see over 22,000 examples produced for the Red Army and allied states/friendly nations. A myriad of operators and variants soon emerged operating the type and the T-62 recorded combat actions from the 1969 Sino-Soviet Border War to the 2011 Libyan Civil War. While not a perfect combat tank, the M60 certainly was a stout and ready performer for the 50+ years it has been in operational service.