15,000 Built: Why the Old M60 Tank Won’t Go Away

[rangerrebew]

15,000 Built: Why the Old M60 Tank Won’t Go Away
Story by Peter Suciu • Saturday
 
 
Across the United States, there are now hundreds of M60 tanks that are on display at parks, National Guard armories, military bases, and museums. The reason so many were able to be used as static displays is that a staggering number were produced – more than 15,000 in all variants.

Though the United States military retired the M60 from front-line combat after 1991’s Operation Desert Storm and the last tanks were retired from National Guard service in 1997. Yet, as of last year, the M60 main battle tank (MBT) remained in active service with some 17 nations around the world – a testament to the robustness of the basic design. In fact, during the Cold War, U.S. M60 MBT served longer and fought on more battlefields than any other. It played a critical role in 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 “Patton” tanks, the M60 was an example of how incremental advances in military technology could progressively better-fighting machines.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/15-000-built-why-the-old-m60-tank-won-t-go-away/ar-AA15oWzK?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=e2a2476f86cc44f48c5c213110afd0c9

[Timber Rattler]

Well, the M60 is just a good old solid tank that gets the job done without all the fancy gimmicks and technologies that infected defense procurement in the 1960s and 1970s, as lampooned in "The Pentagon Wars."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir0FAa8P2MU