Difference between revisions of "120S"
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{{main|M256 (120 mm)}} | {{main|M256 (120 mm)}} | ||
| − | The 120S has the same | + | The 120S has the same 120 mm M256 smoothbore gun used by the later Abrams tanks, and has the same ammunition options as the M1A1 consisting of M830 HEATFS as its stock shell, M829 APFSDS as a Tier I modification, and M829A1 as a Tier IV modification. In terms of battle rating, this is the lowest where these rounds are found with M829A1 undoubtedly being better than any other contemporary APFSDS round at this rank. It allows the 120S to comfortably tackle almost any target it comes across even from some distance away. |
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%" | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%" | ||
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[[File:Behind concretes.png|thumb|Being a tall MBT is not always a bad thing. With the superior turret protection, 120S can hold long lines as long as there is something to cover its weak hull.]] | [[File:Behind concretes.png|thumb|Being a tall MBT is not always a bad thing. With the superior turret protection, 120S can hold long lines as long as there is something to cover its weak hull.]] | ||
| − | The 120S must use its strongpoints to alleviate its handicaps. The MBT | + | The 120S must use its strongpoints to alleviate its handicaps. The MBT gains the excellent 2nd-generation thermal view and the superb 120 mm M256 cannon of the [[M1A1]], but inherits the poor mobility and armour of the [[M60]]. |
| − | + | Compared to the M1 Abrams experience, gameplay will be slower but much more methodical due to the M829A1 shell, which has no problem simply walking straight through troublesome armour and is easily one of the most powerful rounds at the BR, outperforming some of the ammunition available to even the 125 mm contemporaries on Russian and Chinese tanks. Players do not have to worry about dealing with annoying Leopard 2s or the reckless T-series tank as long as they can get the first shot off. | |
| + | |||
| + | While the gun and gun platform are extremely good for the BR, this comes at a rather heavy price. The 120S is by far the slowest of the MBTs at the BR. Unlike the upgraded Israeli [[Magach (Family)|Magachs]] at an earlier BR, the 120S has a measly 750 hp engine, the same engine installed on the first [[M60]] at 8.0. This would not be an issue if not for the fact that the 120S is 20% heavier than its 8.0 counterpart, giving it easily the worst mobility for an MBT at the BR. This makes it extremely difficult to keep up with the frantic fast-paced combat of top-tier and means that the 120S is relegated to an almost strictly defensive role. | ||
| + | |||
| + | A safe way to play the 120S is by sitting just behind the frontline brawlers and using your fast reload and powerful gun to deal with large numbers of enemies in choke points, using your teammates to avoid being the centre of attention for the enemy. Using this tactic, not only will you be keeping your teammates safe and providing ample support for pushing the objectives during the early game, but will also prevent an early demise while still being useful. | ||
| + | |||
| + | At range, however, the 120S excels at long-range combat. The extremely flat trajectory of the 120 mm rounds and their blazing velocity make it easy to snipe opponents from ranges fair greater and with more potency than the 105 mm of the M1 Abrams. Second-generation thermal imagers and a laser rangefinder mean that acquiring targets, engaging and destroying them is easy. Owing to the turret cheeks, only the breech is vulnerable when fighting at ranges exceeding the 1 km mark. However, be especially careful of [[BMP-2M]]; as the missile available on it will easily penetrate the cheeks of the turret at range and follow-ups can be fired immediately so a second hit will almost definitely destroy the vehicle. If you are caught reloading when you are hit, the ammunition will explode and destroy the vehicle regardless of the blowout panels. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Depending on the map, however, even this can be situational thanks to the abysmal hull armour. The hull is essentially a completely stock [[M60]] hull, with no mobility or armour upgrades. This means that all rounds at this BR will simply pass straight through the hull and into the crew. While this can sometimes be avoided with MBT in the event the player is alive after a glancing blow, the same cannot be said for IFVs. Almost every IFV at this BR, most notably [[BMP-2M]] and [[PUMA]], will simply shred straight through the turret ring or the sides of the hull with their powerful APDS and APFSDS belts. This makes proximity teammates extremely important with the 120S, as it is extremely easy to disable or even completely destroy within a fraction of a second. | ||
=== Pros and cons === | === Pros and cons === | ||
| Line 152: | Line 160: | ||
* Poor mobility, compounded by poor reverse speed | * Poor mobility, compounded by poor reverse speed | ||
| − | * Poor hull armour made up of | + | * Loud engine tone |
| + | * Poor hull armour made up entirely of RHA | ||
* Very obvious turret neck that sticks out from the hull | * Very obvious turret neck that sticks out from the hull | ||
* Lack of a commander sight hampers the combat effectiveness in simulator mode | * Lack of a commander sight hampers the combat effectiveness in simulator mode | ||
Latest revision as of 21:12, 2 November 2024
Contents
Description
Despite the end of the Cold War, General Dynamics Land System (GDLS) envisioned a potential customer base of countries equipped with Cold War era tanks like the Patton tanks that want to keep their technological edge by upgrading their existing systems rather than developing or procuring new tanks. GDLS started developing the M60-2000 in late 1999, an upgrade over the M60 platform to keep the tank up-to-date with the new M1 Abrams tank. Aside from updating the components to allow the M60-2000 to maintain similar mobility as the Abrams, the most distinctive feature of the M60-2000 was the use of a M1A1 turret on top of the M60 hull, allowing the tank upgrade to use a 120 mm M256 cannon. During development, the tank name was changed from M60-2000 into 120S. The tank was first marketed as a concept to prospective customers in Europe and the Middle East. The first prototype was produced and revealed in 2001. However, no orders came in for the 120S, and the sole prototype was eventually disassembled in 2003.
The M60 120S was introduced in Update "Alpha Strike" and while looking like a compressed M1 Abrams, it is a hybrid of capabilities between the M1A1 Abrams and the M60. Firstly, the elephant in the room is the large M1A1 turret planted atop a M60 hull. The turret brings the benefits of being equipped with a 120 mm cannon to defeat most of the 120S' foes as well as the turret armour of the M1A1 Abrams that can resist most incoming shots. However, the hull is where most of the disappointment lies in as it is just a M60 hull, the armour of which is quite negligible against the guns that can be faced and the engine isn't upgraded despite the heavier turret, so mobility is slower than preceding M60s. However, for players that have become accustomed to the M60 playstyle from the previous versions in the US tech tree, the 120S can be a refreshing change of pace with new armor and firepower opportunities.
General info
Survivability and armour
The 120S is a M60 hull mated with an Abrams turret. It inherits the usual M60 turret ring (flat 114 mm) weak spot with an even larger 70 mm flat neck. The hull is otherwise the same but unlike the previous M60's, players will notice additional side skirts on hull sides which might help against stray HEAT-FS shells. Turret on the other hand, comes from a M1A1 model and is simply invincible to the most shells the 120S is likely to encounter. Sadly, putting the heavily armored Abrams turret onto the M60 hull increases the weight of 120S up to 56.2 tons. All while still retaining the same 750 hp engine which translates to 120S being slower than almost all the MBT's at its respective battle rating, and unlike the Israeli upgraded M60's, the 120S doesn't have any ESS.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 108 mm (66°) Front Glacis 137 mm (54°) Lower Glacis |
36 - 70 + 65**mm Front half 36 - 70 + 6.5 mm Rear half |
25 mm (1°) Engine Grille 40 mm (31°) Top 28 mm (61°) Bottom |
36 mm Front 20 mm Engine deck |
| Turret | 38*+101* mm (21-30°) 38*+18* mm (30-36°) Gun mantlet 25.4 mm (74-82°) Turret underside |
19*+101* mm (30°) Crew compartment 6*+13* (30°) Ammo rack bustle |
12.7 mm (43-48°) 25.4 mm (80-83°) Turret underside |
38.1 mm Front 25.4 mm Rear 12.7 mm Panels |
| Cupola | 25.4 mm (conical) | |||
Notes: * RHA plates part of composite armour ** Composite screens
Mobility
Being one of the slowest MBT's at its battle rating, 120S users are forced to play under the pressure of getting flanked by faster vehicles such as Leopard 2s. The slow speed of 120S means either the players have to spawn early to get to their desired positions or simply spawn late to protect objectives or spawn point. As a result of the poor stock engine, one can skip getting the top shell and LSR (as the M829 at the rank I is simply enough in terms of penetration and accuracy) in favour of mobility upgrades.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 53 | 13 | 56.3 | 1,162 | 1,431 | 20.64 | 25.42 |
| Realistic | 48 | 12 | 663 | 750 | 11.78 | 13.32 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Main armament
The 120S has the same 120 mm M256 smoothbore gun used by the later Abrams tanks, and has the same ammunition options as the M1A1 consisting of M830 HEATFS as its stock shell, M829 APFSDS as a Tier I modification, and M829A1 as a Tier IV modification. In terms of battle rating, this is the lowest where these rounds are found with M829A1 undoubtedly being better than any other contemporary APFSDS round at this rank. It allows the 120S to comfortably tackle almost any target it comes across even from some distance away.
| 120 mm M256 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 42 | -10°/+20° | ±180° | Two-plane | 38.1 | 52.7 | 64.0 | 70.8 | 75.3 | 6.50 | 5.75 | 5.30 | 5.00 |
| Realistic | 23.8 | 28.0 | 34.0 | 37.6 | 40.0 | ||||||||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| M830 | HEATFS | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 |
| M829 | APFSDS | 491 | 488 | 481 | 473 | 464 | 454 |
| M830A1 | HEAT MP | 350 | 350 | 350 | 350 | 350 | 350 |
| M829A1 | APFSDS | 598 | 596 | 589 | 580 | 570 | 560 |
| M908 | HE-OR | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| M830 | HEATFS | 1,140 | 13.1 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 2.36 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |||
| M829 | APFSDS | 1,670 | 4.27 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
| M829A1 | APFSDS | 1,575 | 4.89 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
| M908 | HE-OR | 1,410 | 11.4 | 0.4 | 5 | 1.99 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |||
| Proximity-fused shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Arming distance (m) |
Trigger radius (m) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| M830A1 | HEAT MP | 1,410 | 11.4 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 400 | 10 | 1.99 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | 39 (+3) | 35 (+7) | 18 (+24) | 1 (+41) | No |
Machine guns
Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.
| 12.7 mm M2HB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Commander's cupola | 1,000 (200) | 575 | -9°/+65° | -160°/+180° |
| 7.62 mm M240 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Loader's cupola | 1,400 (200) | 941 | -9°/+65° | -77°/+135° |
| Coaxial | 10,000 (200) | 941 | - | - |
Usage in battles
The 120S must use its strongpoints to alleviate its handicaps. The MBT gains the excellent 2nd-generation thermal view and the superb 120 mm M256 cannon of the M1A1, but inherits the poor mobility and armour of the M60.
Compared to the M1 Abrams experience, gameplay will be slower but much more methodical due to the M829A1 shell, which has no problem simply walking straight through troublesome armour and is easily one of the most powerful rounds at the BR, outperforming some of the ammunition available to even the 125 mm contemporaries on Russian and Chinese tanks. Players do not have to worry about dealing with annoying Leopard 2s or the reckless T-series tank as long as they can get the first shot off.
While the gun and gun platform are extremely good for the BR, this comes at a rather heavy price. The 120S is by far the slowest of the MBTs at the BR. Unlike the upgraded Israeli Magachs at an earlier BR, the 120S has a measly 750 hp engine, the same engine installed on the first M60 at 8.0. This would not be an issue if not for the fact that the 120S is 20% heavier than its 8.0 counterpart, giving it easily the worst mobility for an MBT at the BR. This makes it extremely difficult to keep up with the frantic fast-paced combat of top-tier and means that the 120S is relegated to an almost strictly defensive role.
A safe way to play the 120S is by sitting just behind the frontline brawlers and using your fast reload and powerful gun to deal with large numbers of enemies in choke points, using your teammates to avoid being the centre of attention for the enemy. Using this tactic, not only will you be keeping your teammates safe and providing ample support for pushing the objectives during the early game, but will also prevent an early demise while still being useful.
At range, however, the 120S excels at long-range combat. The extremely flat trajectory of the 120 mm rounds and their blazing velocity make it easy to snipe opponents from ranges fair greater and with more potency than the 105 mm of the M1 Abrams. Second-generation thermal imagers and a laser rangefinder mean that acquiring targets, engaging and destroying them is easy. Owing to the turret cheeks, only the breech is vulnerable when fighting at ranges exceeding the 1 km mark. However, be especially careful of BMP-2M; as the missile available on it will easily penetrate the cheeks of the turret at range and follow-ups can be fired immediately so a second hit will almost definitely destroy the vehicle. If you are caught reloading when you are hit, the ammunition will explode and destroy the vehicle regardless of the blowout panels.
Depending on the map, however, even this can be situational thanks to the abysmal hull armour. The hull is essentially a completely stock M60 hull, with no mobility or armour upgrades. This means that all rounds at this BR will simply pass straight through the hull and into the crew. While this can sometimes be avoided with MBT in the event the player is alive after a glancing blow, the same cannot be said for IFVs. Almost every IFV at this BR, most notably BMP-2M and PUMA, will simply shred straight through the turret ring or the sides of the hull with their powerful APDS and APFSDS belts. This makes proximity teammates extremely important with the 120S, as it is extremely easy to disable or even completely destroy within a fraction of a second.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Very quick reload, up to 5 seconds with an ace crew
- Very good firepower, can comfortably tackle whatever it faces even at higher BRs
- Superb gun handling
- Effective hull down capability due to the M1A1 turret
- 2nd generation thermals for the gunner
- Unlike most NATO MBTs, can look behind due to high placement of the turret
Cons:
- Poor mobility, compounded by poor reverse speed
- Loud engine tone
- Poor hull armour made up entirely of RHA
- Very obvious turret neck that sticks out from the hull
- Lack of a commander sight hampers the combat effectiveness in simulator mode
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Devblog
Late in 1999, General Dynamics Land Systems were looking to put a tank together that was suitable to export to countries as a cheaper alternative to the current main battle tanks. To attract buyers, it was decided to pair an M1A1 turret onto an M60A1 hull — a hull which was already in use with many countries around the world. This combination could also allow for countries to convert their existing M60 hulls into the M60 120S standard if required. In August 2001 the first prototype was completed and subsequently shown at the IDEF Exhibition in Turkey in October 2001. Having been proposed to countries such as Turkey and Egypt, there was no interest and the project was abandoned with only 1 prototype being built.
Media
- Videos
See also
- M60 (Family)
- Magach 7C - Israeli end of the line upgraded M60
External links
| USA medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| M2 | M2 |
| M3 | M3 Lee · ▃Grant I |
| M4 | M4 · Calliope · M4A1 · M4A1 (76) W · M4A2 · M4A2 (76) W · M4A3 (105) · M4A3 (76) W · M4/T26 |
| M26 Pershing | T20 · T25 · M26 · M26 T99 · M26E1 |
| M46/47/48 Patton | M46 · M46 "Tiger" · M47 · M48A1 · T54E1 · T54E2 |
| M60 | M60 · M60A1 (AOS) · M60A1 RISE (P) · M60A2 · M60A3 TTS · M728 CEV · 120S |
| MBT-70 | MBT-70 · XM803 |
| M1 Abrams | XM1 (Chrysler) · XM1 (GM) |
| M1 Abrams · M1 KVT · IPM1 | |
| M1A1 · M1A1 HC · M1A1 Click-Bait | |
| M1A2 Abrams · M1A2 SEP · M1A2 SEP V2 | |
| Other | T95E1 |
| Australia | M1A1 AIM |
| Canada | M4A5 |
| Israel | ▃Magach 3 (ERA) · ▃Merkava Mk.1 · ▃Merkava Mk.2B · ▃Merkava Mk.3D |
| Turkey | M60 AMBT |
