120S
| This page is about the main battle tank 120S. For other versions, see M60 (Family). For other uses, see M60 (Disambiguation). |
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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Armaments
Main armament
The 120S has the same 120mm 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 |
| M829A1 | APFSDS | 598 | 596 | 589 | 580 | 570 | 560 |
| 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° | |||
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 inherits the excellent 2nd-generation thermal view and the superb 120 mm M256 cannon. The fast turret slew rate and the quick reload is the cherry on top. Let's also not forget the blowout panels (up to 34 shells can be taken without worrying). Compared to the M1 Abrams experience, gameplay will be slow but much more satisfying due to the M829A1 shell, which will not care about the opposition. Players do not have to worry about dealing with annoying Leopard 2s or the reckless USSR MBTs.
Common tactics include performing hull down or covering hull behind solid cover. If possible, while reloading, simply turn the turret slightly to side to decrease chances of getting the breech damaged. Due to the fast reload, one can bait enemies by shooting. Care must be taken to have enough room between You and enemy to have the next shell ready before they peek. An even rare tactic is to use the poor armour of the 120S to bait shots, such as turning at the last second to the opposite direction of where enemy is aiming (most likely hull). At the end of turn, the hull must look sideways to the enemy, thus when done right, only the engine will be damaged.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Very quick reload, up to 5 seconds when Aced
- 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 the most NATO MBTs, 120S can look behind due to high placement of the turret.
Cons:
- Poor mobility, compounded by poor reverse speed
- Poor hull armour made up of just 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) - The family/history page for the M60
- Magach 7C - Israeli end of the line upgraded M60
External links
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