Turkish tanks

[Sunray]

Watching a news bulletin the other day I saw a strange tank operating on the Turkish/Syrian frontier.  A little research confirmed it as a Sabra - the Israeli upgrade of the M60 Patton.  Very impressive.

In terms of an upgrade of a vintage MBT it can only be matched by what the South Africans did with the Centurion to create the Olifant.

It got me thinking what other vintage tanks had been treated to such levels of makeover.

The Danes did fancy things to their M41s, the Norwegians upgraded the Chaffee and the Brazilians punched out a nifty version of the Stuart called  the Carcara - so successful that they actually built new ones from scratch. 

Impressive what can be done if you have an indigenous engineering culture or faced with a weapons ban.   

[mart678]

Hi Sunray

It is on the list the Sabra has a 120mm gun supposedly

Martin

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Not a Sabra old son, it's an M60A3 with Blazer, as used by USMC in Desert Storm. The Turks got them when retired by the US army, and use them alongside BTR 70 or 80. It's an interesting mix. 105 guns.

IanS

[Sunray]

Not a Sabra old son, it's an M60A3 with Blazer, as used by USMC in Desert Storm. The Turks got them when retired by the US army, and use them alongside BTR 70 or 80. It's an interesting mix. 105 guns.

IanS

No Ian old son,I am sorry but your intel is a little dated.  You are correct in the source of the M60, but the Turks did a canny deal with   Israeli Military Industries (approved by both the Knesset and Mossad) and the Slavin Heavy Weapons plant at Ramat upgraded 170 tanks to full Sabra MkII finish(complete with 60mm mortar)  between Nov 2005 and 2009.   Source; (2016, Kable Intellenge Limited, www.army.technology.com)