M60A1

The M60A1 is a tier 4 Main Battle Tank originating from the United States, and is sold by Sophie Wölfli. It can be unlocked from the M60, and leads to the M60A3 and M60A2 Starship.

Features

 * Heavy armor : this vehicle's armor bounces more shots and takes more hits
 * HESH: can even penetrate armor with large hit angles

Player Recommendations
With a well-designed turret and ample gun depression, the M60A1 serves as a viable ridge poker and hull down defender that can also brawl in a pinch. While its hull armor is mediocre at best and its mobility is lacking, it compensates for this with a relatively high rate of fire and good gun handling, along with being one of the first vehicles in the game to offer ERA protection.

Pros

 * Excellent gun depression
 * Well sloped and armored turret

Cons

 * Poor hull armor
 * Poor mobility

Upgrade Suggestions
The first upgrade that should be applied to the M60A1 is the RISE ERA package, which massively increases protection against HEAT ammunition, increasing survivability. Upgrades to firepower should be considered next, to help remove enemies from the battlefield even faster.

Retrofit Suggestions

 * Advanced Muzzle Reference System
 * Augmented Optics
 * Improved Gun Breech
 * Improved Pioneer Tool Kit

Commander and Crew Skill Suggestions

 * Commander: Juan Carlos, to improve the aim speed and crew stats.
 * Driver: Spin to Win, Off-Road Driving
 * Gunner: Sharpshooter, Do the Twist
 * Loader: Rapid Fire, Explosive Shells/Preparation

History
Class: Main Battle Tank Developed: 1960-1961 Service: 1961-2005 (2014 in Israel) Vehicles Built: cca 11000 Operators: USA, Israel, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, Yemen The Patton series of universal tanks is as important to the United States military as the T-54/55 series was to the Soviets and formed the backbone of the American armored forces from the late 1940s practically until the 1990s. Having evolved from the M26 Pershing Medium Tank, the Patton family was named after George S. Patton, one of the most famous U.S. generals to have ever lived. Right until their final versions, the Patton series tanks were protected only by their steel armor and used 90mm and 105mm rifled guns. The M60 interim tank was developed as an upgrade to the M48 series with the goals of improving its firepower and operational range. The project was relatively successful and the combination of a new 105mm gun and a diesel engine proved to be a formidable one, but there was still a lot of space for improvement, especially in the turret department. The attempts to mate a modified M60 hull with an improved narrow T95E7 turret (that came from the T95 program, much like the 105mm gun) took place from March 1960 with the first three prototypes ready in 1961. On October 22 1961, the tank was officially accepted in service under the designation of 105mm Gun Tank M60A1. It would take a full year (till October 1962), however, before the production switched to this upgraded variant. The production would run until 1980. In this configuration, the M60A1 stayed (with improvements, counting the M60A3 amongst them) in the American service for four decades, an exceptional machine for what was supposed to be a temporary solution in the first place. The failure of the T95 program and the MBT-70, as well as the lengthy Abrams development, pushed the retirement of the M60 series further and further with the final replacement of the M60A3 with the Abrams in the last active units only happening in 2005. A large number of M60 tanks are, however, still held in reserve. In American service, the M60A1 participated most notably in Operation Desert Storm – the M60A1 model was still operated by the U.S. Marine Corps at that time, apparently due to the fact that USMC decided to wait for an upgraded version of the Abrams before replacing the obsolete Pattons with it, instead of choosing one of the older Abrams models just to replace it a few years later. The M60A1 was also widely exported to NATO countries and American allies. Possibly the biggest M60 series operator was Israel with 150 M60A1s purchased in 1971, two years prior to the Yom Kippur War, during which many of them were destroyed, especially on the western front with Egypt, where Egyptian Malyutka teams, along with dug-in BMP-1s, devastated the Israeli armored assaults with precise fire. For such a small country, these losses were difficult to replace. Between 1980 and 1985, Israel purchased more M60-series tanks (but that was the advanced M60A3 model already). The M60s (under the Magach designation) were upgraded further and were only retired in 2014.