 |
The M60A1 in Austrian Army Service |
In1964 the Austrian Army acquired 120 M60A1 tanks. It is said that Austria was the first country to receive these tanks.
Until 1969 the tanks remained in US configuration, only the US searchlight was not used.
From 1969 onwards several modifications were introduced. Since 1965 all vehicles should have been painted in RAL 7013, but tank
battalion 33 had some tanks in service until 1973, which remained in original US OD and without Austrian modifications.
At the end of 1981 the Austrian Army introduced the M60A3 and until 1989 all M60A1 and A3 were upgraded to M60A3Ö ( Ö=Österreich=Austria ) standard. More about that, when I built the relevant kit—the saga continues….
After introducing the Leopard 2 in 1997/1998 ( ours were purchased from the Netherlands and built between 82-85!—so no youngsters either! ) the M60A3Ö tanks were phased out.
One idea was to transfer them back to the US ( National Guard ), but meanwhile they should have been sold to Egypt.
In summer 2001 I could see a lot of these tanks parked in Markgrafneusiedl/Lower Austria. They disappeared in autumn.
The M60A1 and its variants saw 35 years service within the Austrian Army.
The first employment for the M60A1 occurred in August 1968, during the Soviet occupation of the CSSR, where some Austrian Army units were ordered for border controls. Although, due to political reasons, the tank units were not allowed to cross an imaginary 30 km line towards the border, the units were on alarm and prepared for military interference. In the end it did not come to any fight.
I have chosen to represent a tank from this period.
Technical Data
Armament:
1x 105mm gun M68, 63 grenades
1x 7,62mm MG M219, coax, 5950 shots
1x 12,7mm MG M85 in cupola, 900 shot
Engine:
AVDS-1790-2A Diesel with 470KW, air-cooled
12 cylinder
Combat weight:
47tons
Measurement:
Length, with gun: 9,44m
Wide: 3.63m
Height: 3,28m
Crew:
4Man |
|
