- Yes
- No
Description: The Leonardo M60A3 (early) is an Italian modified version of the American M60A3. The M60 was an American MBT from the Cold War, and it holds the very special title of being the first American MBT. With it’s entry into service in 1959, the M60 proved to be a very efficient tank for the time being and proved successful in the following years too. Indeed, many foreign nations like Italy, Israel, Turkey, and many others bought it, and it’s derivative outside the US. One of these derivates is the Leonardo M60A3, an Italian improved version of the standard American M60A3 MBT aimed to upgrade the current M60A3 tanks still in service with various countries. The package included upgraded optics, the Lothar and turm sights, a new cannon, the OTO Melara 120/45 mm gun (the same cannon adopted on the Centauro 2 and on the Centauro 1 120), and upgraded passive protections, systems, and engines. The tank was presented for the first time in 2017, but it is unclear when the program started. But even if very little information is available, Leonardo still published some of the integration tests that occurred previously, and one of these was a very interesting optics testbed. At the start of the project, probably in mid-2010, Leonardo used a M60A3 of unknown origin to test new sights that were going to be added to the upgrade package. This unit was a standard M60A3 equipped with the Lothar gunner sight and a Janus commander sight (which are basically the two optics fitted on the in the game VBM Freccia wheeled IFV). The most interesting part about this unit is that one of the two sight fitted on this experimental tank, the JANUS, was not adopted on the final upgrade package. In the end, very little to zero information is known about this unit, and so is its fate (maiby it was the one that was fully modified later and was presented in 2017, but this is not confirmed).
Why it should be in game: This unit will be a very interesting addition for the Italian TT, being basically identical to the alredy in game american M60A3 but with the addition of two very moder sights both equipped with a laser rangefinder and a good thermal imagine (something that could very likely owe it an higher br). I can imagine this to be something like a sniper tank, since it will be equipped with a laser rangefinder at a br were most of the tanks are not and with higt tier termic optics making him more capable to detect enemy units.
Specifications
Sources
Riepilogo
M60A3
Janus
https://electronics.leonardo.com/documents/16277707/18359083/Lothar_LQ_mm07836_.pdf?t=1694702294684
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/us/m60_patton.php
TURMS-D (Tank Universal Reconfigurable Modular System)
Leonardo M60A3 Upgrade Solution - Tank Encyclopedia
Pictures
Riepilogo
