What tank did the m-1 Abrams replace?

Answer 1

The US Army establishes the criteria for US Military "Armor" (Tanks). The US Marines, and in some cases special "leased or on loan" "Armor" is given to the other branches (Air Force or Navy, etc.). But, the Marines, and everyone else will use what the US Army adapts. The official US Army tanks AFTER WW2 were the M46, M47, and M48 PATTON tanks. These were officially classified as 90mm Gun Tank Patton(s). Light Gun Tanks were the M41 Walker Bulldogs, which had 76mm Guns. The US Military's ONLY heavy tank was the 120mm Gun Tank M103 (which had no name). The US Army only fielded one battalion of those M103's. The US Marines wanted the heavies more than the Army, and retained them until about 1974. Oficially, 76mm gun tanks were "Light Gun Tanks"; 90mm gun tanks were "Medium Gun Tanks"; and 120mm gun tanks were "Heavy Gun Tanks." Un-officially, people referred to them as Heavy, Medium, and Light tanks. The 105mm Gun, Full Tracked, M-60 COMBAT Tank was the US Army's FIRST MBT (Main Battle Tank) and was fielded in 1960. The M60 Series (Main Battle Tank) was an improved descendent of the M-48 Patton; however the M60 NEVER RECIEVED AN OFFICIAL NAME. The US Army wanted to change to M60's nomenclature to MBT, but management had already established it as a COMBAT tank on paper; and didn't want to "change horse's in the middle of a stream" (they wanted to get to building it and getting it to the units in Europe, rather than bickering over the name of the tank). The M-48 Patton, was the last Patton, and the last of the "medium gunned" US Army tanks; however, after the Vietnam War the M-48 was later up-gunned to meet the M-60 MBT's standards with a 105mm cannon...called the M-48A5. The M-48A5 was an "Artificial M-60", designed to make MORE NUMBERS, rather than build more M-60's. The M-48A5 105mm gunned Patton, was eventually replaced in the 1980's, as more M-1 Abrams MBT's came on line. Leaving only the M-60 Series (MBT) and the M-1 Abrams MBT in the Army's inventory. Bottom line: the M-1 Abrams (MBT-120mm Gun) replaced the M-60 Combat tank (MBT-105mm Gun).