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M60A1 With ERA








The M60 Patton is a main battle tank introduced in December 1960. With the United States Army's deactivation of their last heavy tank battalion in 1963, the M60 became the Army's primary tank during the Cold War. Although developed from the M48 Patton, the M60 series was never officially classified as a Patton tank, but as a "product-improved descendant" of the Patton series. On 16 March 1959, the OTCM (Ordnance Technical Committee Minutes) #37002 officially standardized the vehicle as the 105 mm Gun Full Tracked Combat Tank M60.

The M60 was criticized for its high profile and limited cross-country mobility, but proved reliable and underwent many updates over its service life. The interior layout, based on the design of the M48, provided ample room for updates and improvements, extending the vehicle's service life for over four decades. It was widely used by the U.S. and its Cold War allies, especially those in NATO, and remains in service throughout the world today despite having been superseded by the M1 Abrams in the U.S. military. Egypt is currently the largest operator with 1,716 upgraded M60A3s, Turkey is second with 866 upgraded units in service, and Israel is third with over 700 units of Israeli variants.

USMC M60A1 tanks were used in Grenada and Beirut in 1983. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991 at least one US Air Force unit was equipped with M60s. The 401st TFW (P), deployed to Doha, Qatar had two M60s for use by explosives ordnance disposal personnel. It was planned that using the MBTs would allow the EOD crews to remove unexploded ordnance from tarmac runway and taxiway surfaces with increased safety.

The M60A1 RISE Passive of the U.S. Marines saw action during Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, opposing Iraqi armor which included the T-54, T-55, T-62, Type 69, and T-72. The M60A1s were fitted with add-on explosive reactive armor (ERA) packages and supported the drive into Kuwait City. In early February 1991, two hundred USMC M60A1s of the 2nd Battalion drove north from Khafji, Saudi Arabia into Kuwait. In Kuwait they encountered an Iraqi force of T-54/55, Type 69, and T-72 tanks at Kuwait City International Airport. This was the largest tank battle for the Marines since World War II. The Marines won this battle, destroying almost nine dozen Iraqi tanks with only a single M60A1 lost. The defeat of the Iraqi force was not only humiliating to Iraq but also to the USSR’s arms export effort. This was in part due to the fact that some of the tanks destroyed were the newer T-72 which the Soviets claimed was superior to the M60. They saw service with the United States Marine Corps and the Saudi Arabian Army.
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