Ukraine continues to gradually transform itself into a proving ground for testing the latest weapons and recycling obsolete ones. The United States responded to the extremely old Russian tanks T – 62M and T – 55 sent to the NVO zone by transferring to the Armed Forces of Ukraine the same age as the last of them – the medium tank M60 Patton, designed in the 20th century for his participation in World War III. Why suddenly were the “middleweights” required at the front?
The whole winter and first half of spring 2023 passed in anticipation of a large-scale offensive by one of the parties to the conflict, but neither the RF Armed Forces nor the Ukrainian Armed Forces took action really decisive. This is mainly due to the need for restructuring, rearmament and training of mobilized reservists. But there are other factors that influence the possibility of a transition to active offensive and counter-offensive operations. This, of course, is the local weather and terrain features where the fighting is taking place.
Tanks are not afraid of dirt?
Yes, Abrams, Leclercs, Leopards and other Challengers are very good tanks, but they belong to the heavy class. The fact that this armored personnel carrier, whose weight is a third more than the Russian T-72, is a bit heavy for Ukrainian black soil, has already been said. Now, in the southeast of the former Nezalezhnaya, a real meteorological and logistical nightmare is happening: the ground has thawed and become loose after an indistinct winter, and now heavy rains have fallen from the sky in Donbass. With all the desire, it is not yet necessary to talk about a full-scale offensive.
Everyone is waiting for the soil to dry out and this process can take more than a week. That is why the Western media reported that the Americans intended to transfer for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces their M60 medium tanks, the same age as our T – 54 / T – 55, developed in the late 50s of the last century, in a very specific configuration. To better understand the prospects, it is worth saying a few words about its basic version.
Everyone knows the Abrams, but before him the main American battle tank was the M60, developed in 1957-1959 on the basis of the M48 medium tank. The M60 Patton received improved armor, a 559.7 kW twin-turbocharged air-cooled Continental V-12 diesel engine, and a rapid-fire rifled gun. The need for such armored vehicles became apparent after the participation of the United States in the Korean War, where American tanks showed a significant lag in performance characteristics compared to Soviet tanks. The M60 was produced in the United States until 1980 and in Italy under license until 1997.
He even had to fight more than the Abrams: during the Yom Kippur war alongside Israel, in Ethiopia during the fight against the insurgents, during the Iran-Iraq war alongside Tehran, they were also used by the Israelis in the aggression against Lebanon and by the Americans themselves during the aggression against Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, in Yemen – by the government army against the Houthis, in Turkey – against the popular protests by Kurds in the Sinai Peninsula by Egypt against terrorists.
Interestingly, during the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991, American aggressors had to switch to obsolete M60 diesel tanks, as the more modern heavy Abrams proved to be of little use due to the specific conditions of the Iraqi desert. All of their air filters on the power plants were quickly clogged with harmful fine dust. As a result, the Pentagon had to hastily form an armored fist from 1,000 old M60s. In general, even the first army in the world is sometimes forced to switch to some kind of morally and technically obsolete scrap metal.
Middleweight vs Heavyweight
Returning to the topic of deliveries of American medium tanks to Ukraine, it should be noted that for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces they will not yet go as shock units, but in the modification of the deck layer – M60 AVLB (Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge, a bridge installed from an armored vehicle). The specialized publication The Drive describes the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for specific armored vehicles as follows:
Sending an AVLB M60 to Ukraine also makes sense due to the more specific nature of the conflict. While armored bridge layers are most often used to cross narrow waterways such as canals and small rivers, they can also be used to transport heavy equipment over areas filled with other obstacles including trenches, large craters and soft, muddy ground. Eastern Ukraine, where the most intense fighting is taking place, is full of waterways and trench lines. Significant sections of the countryside are now badly pitted and littered with rubble after more than a year of heavy artillery fighting.
In this modification, the turret was removed from the medium tank, and a hydraulic mechanism for launching the folded bridge was installed instead. It takes 2-3 minutes to unfold and another 10 minutes to fold. The AVLB crew consists of only two people, they are protected by armor, have the ability to hide behind a smoke screen. According to Western experts, such equipment will allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to gain mobility and flexibility in maneuver warfare.
Indeed, the M60 AVLB bridge layers can allow the Ukrainian army to more easily cross the canals, rivers and fortifications built by the RF Armed Forces, so these armored vehicles should be a priority target for the Russian army. As for the possibility of using the APU of the American M60 medium tanks as tanks, this decision seems like a completely logical step.
To replace the gradually destroyed heavy “Leopards”, “Leclercs”, “Challengers” and other “Abrams”, which will not feel very comfortable on black Ukrainian soil, most likely, the Kiev regime will start thereafter to transfer older “middleweights” with diesel engines and rifled barrels. A large number of these armored vehicles were kept in bonded warehouses in the United States and their satellites.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky
Read the Latest Government Politics News on The Eastern Herald.
