Center Range, Camp Ripley

SGT Brett Skyles atop his M1 at the screening range

Us leaving the range after firing our day run, 1997

My M60A3, right before we drove it and the rest of them (60) to a vehicle graveyard in 1995. Two years later, thirty of them were sold to Jordan. This particlular one, #19, is mounted on the pad at the entrance of Camp Ripley. Others ended up also as static displays. About a dozen or so still have no fate and rest among other retired vehicles in the graveyard. The M60A3, although not in use by "modern" forces, is still a great tank. It came about when Congress came up with the idea that it was better to upgrade M60A1's to a similar grade as the M1, which had been out for about two years. Yes, that's right! The A3 is younger than the M1! When put up against newcomers like the LeoIIS, Challenger 2, Merkava Mk4, LeClerc, etc., the M60A3 is stone age. But compare a few things; Bad points; Slow, Only stablized in elevation, the M85 .50Cal is a piece of crap, 105MM (shorter range, which today is important), Older track and suspension (Throws more often then newer track), no safe ammo storage (but holds 63 for main gun), Good points; Tank Thermal Sight (tons better than the TIS installed on even new M1A2!), Real good Laser Rangefinder, .50 Cal has a night sight, Narrow sillouette, Decent fuel economy, to name a few. This list sums up that the M60A3 is a excellent defensive tank, which it is. It has been known to kick butt out of M1's while on defense. But your saying, "Tanks are offensive though!" Your right. Tell that to Isreal and Sweden though. The Merkava and the S-Tank were designed with the defense in mind. All of the M60A3's shortcomings are not that important on the defense anyway.