M48A1 (China)

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Rank VI USSR | Premium | Golden Eagles
Su-25K Pack
cn_m48a1_patton_iii.png
GarageImage M48A1 (China).jpg
␗M48A1
AB RB SB
7.7 7.7 7.7
Class:
Research:95 000 Specs-Card-Exp.png
Purchase:270 000 Specs-Card-Lion.png
Show in game

Description

The ␗90 mm Gun Tank M48A1 Patton III is a rank V Chinese medium tank with a battle rating of 7.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision".

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back
Hull110 / 76 / 35
Turret130 / 76 / 51
Crew4 people
Visibility117 %

Armour type:

  • Cast homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret)
  • Rolled homogeneous armour (Rear (low), Roof)
Armour Front (Slope angle) Sides Rear Roof
Hull 85-200 mm (59-74°) Front glacis

63-200 mm (13-60°) Lower glacis

76 mm (8-43°) Front

51 mm (0-43°) Rear

35 mm (26-32°) Top

25 mm (61-62°) Bottom

25.4-57 mm
Turret 127 mm (12-76°) Turret front

152 + 82 mm (17-26°) Gun mantlet

69-100 mm (12-36°) 51-55 mm (2-71°) 25-69 mm
Armour Sides Roof
Cupola 70 mm 70 mm

Notes:

  • Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.
  • Belly armour is 38 mm in the front and 25 mm in the rear.

Mobility

Speedforward / back
AB50 / 10 km/h
RB and SB45 / 9 km/h
Number of gears4 forward
1 back
Weight44.9 t
Engine power
AB1 545 hp
RB and SB810 hp
Power-to-weight ratio
AB34.4 hp/t
RB and SB18.0 hp/t
Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 50 10 44.9 1,255 1,545 27.95 34.41
Realistic 45 9 716 810 15.95 18.04

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference
AB3 878 → 5 460 Sl icon.png
RB4 381 → 6 168 Sl icon.png
SB6 174 → 8 692 Sl icon.png
Total cost of modifications77 300 Rp icon.png
129 500 Sl icon.png
Talisman cost2 000 Ge icon.png
Crew training78 000 Sl icon.png
Experts270 000 Sl icon.png
Aces1 100 Ge icon.png
Research Aces670 000 Rp icon.png
Reward for battleAB / RB / SB
130 / 200 / 220 % Sl icon.png
190 / 190 / 190 % Rp icon.png
Modifications
Mobility Protection Firepower
Mods new tank traks.png
Tracks
Research:
4 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank suspension.png
Suspension
Research:
3 600 Rp icon.png
Cost:
5 800 Sl icon.png
185 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank break.png
Brake System
Research:
3 600 Rp icon.png
Cost:
5 800 Sl icon.png
185 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank filter.png
Filters
Research:
4 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank transmission.png
Transmission
Research:
5 200 Rp icon.png
Cost:
8 400 Sl icon.png
270 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank engine.png
Engine
Research:
5 200 Rp icon.png
Cost:
8 400 Sl icon.png
270 Ge icon.png
Mods tank tool kit.png
Improved Parts
Research:
2 600 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods extinguisher.png
Improved FPE
Research:
2 300 Rp icon.png
Cost:
5 800 Sl icon.png
185 Ge icon.png
Mods tank reinforcement cn.png
Crew Replenishment
Research:
4 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank horizontal aiming.png
Horizontal Drive
Research:
4 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods tank ammo.png
90mm_us_M82_m48_ammo_pack
Research:
4 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods tank cannon.png
Adjustment of Fire
Research:
3 600 Rp icon.png
Cost:
5 800 Sl icon.png
185 Ge icon.png
Mods tank ammo.png
90mm_us_T142E3_HESH_ammo_pack
Research:
3 600 Rp icon.png
Cost:
5 800 Sl icon.png
185 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank vertical aiming.png
Elevation Mechanism
Research:
4 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods tank ammo.png
90mm_us_M431_HEAT_ammo_pack
Research:
4 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods night vision device.png
NVD
Research:
4 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
6 500 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods art support.png
Artillery Support
Research:
5 200 Rp icon.png
Cost:
8 400 Sl icon.png
270 Ge icon.png
Mods tank ammo.png
90mm_us_M313_Smoke_ammo_pack
Research:
5 200 Rp icon.png
Cost:
8 400 Sl icon.png
270 Ge icon.png
Mods tank rangefinder.png
Rangefinder
Research:
5 200 Rp icon.png
Cost:
8 400 Sl icon.png
270 Ge icon.png

Armaments

Rangefinder
Reduces the error and increases the maximum measurable distance of the rangefinder
Night vision device
Improves visibility by enhancing natural light or active illumination.

Main armament

Ammunition60 rounds
First-order23 rounds
Reloadbasic crew → aces
8.7 → 6.7 s
Vertical guidance-9° / 19°
Main article: M41 (90 mm)
90 mm M41 Turret rotation speed (°/s) Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode Capacity Vertical Horizontal Stabilizer Stock Upgraded Full Expert Aced Stock Full Expert Aced
Arcade 60 -9°/+19° ±180° N/A 22.85 31.62 38.40 42.47 45.18 9.75 8.63 7.95 7.50
Realistic 14.28 16.80 20.40 22.56 24.00

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
M332 shot APCR 321 316 292 265 240 218
T142E3 HESH 102 102 102 102 102 102
M82 shot APCBC 185 182 170 155 142 130
M431 shell HEATFS 320 320 320 320 320 320
M71 shell HE 13 13 13 13 13 13
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
Mass (kg)
Fuse delay
(m)
Fuse sensitivity
(mm)
Explosive Mass
(TNT equivalent) (g)
Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
M332 shot APCR 1,249 5.70 N/A N/A N/A 66° 70° 72°
T142E3 HESH 792 10.60 0.4 0.1 3,050 73° 77° 80°
M82 shot APCBC 853 10.94 1.2 14.0 137.2 48° 63° 71°
M431 shell HEATFS 1,216 5.80 N/A 0.1 712.6 65° 72° 77°
M71 shell HE 823 10.55 0.1 0.5 925 79° 80° 81°
Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
Mass (kg)
Screen radius
(m)
Screen deploy time
(s)
Screen hold time
(s)
Explosive Mass
(TNT equivalent) (g)
M313 821 10.7 13 5 20 50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M48A1 (China)
Full
ammo
1st
rack empty
2nd
rack empty
3rd
rack empty
4th
rack empty
5th
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
60 54 (+6) 38 (+22) 30 (+30) 12 (+48) (+59) No

Machine guns

Ammunition600 rounds
Belt capacity200 rounds
Reloadbasic crew → aces
10.4 → 8.0 s
Fire rate575 shots/min
Vertical guidance-9° / 60°
Ammunition6 000 rounds
Belt capacity250 rounds
Reloadbasic crew → aces
10.4 → 8.0 s
Fire rate500 shots/min
12.7 mm M85
Mount Capacity (Belt) Fire rate Vertical Horizontal
Pintle 900 (200) 626 -15°/+60° ±180°
7.62 mm M73
Mount Capacity (Belt) Fire rate Vertical Horizontal
Coaxial 5,950 (250) 500 N/A N/A

Usage in battles

The M48A1 plays as a general medium tank, acting as a jack-of-all-trades in all of the tank's traits with average armour, firepower, and mobility.

The M48A1 front hull glacis and turret are the strong points of the tank and have the best chance on the tank to bounce off rounds. However, its lower glacis and side armour remain a significant weak point for the tank, so take extra caution when exposing those weak points.

One of the best ways to use this tank when a player does not have access to its HEATFS round is to refrain from using it as a brawler. This is because most of the shells that this tank has in its arsenal, do not have the ample firepower to eliminate most of the targets it faces at its BR. However, since the tank is incredibly mobile, it can be used as an excellent flanker. It can out-manoeuvre most of its medium tank rivals and expose their side armours.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Decent frontal armour
  • M82 APCBC shells are less effective at its rank but will still do the job if used wisely
  • Good penetration for the HEAT rounds
  • Good mobility overall
  • .50 calibre machine gun is good for use against lightly-armoured vehicles and aircraft

Cons:

  • Armour can still be penetrated by the majority of the guns at this rank
  • Stock APCR round is painful to use
  • Slow turret traverse

History

Scavenging "Patton" from scrap

Due to the impact of the Vietnam War, the United States changed its military aid policy to Taiwan. The United States no longer provided its surplus armaments for free to the ROC army, and instead required the ROC army to purchase equipment in the form of military aid loans. As a result, the progress of the national army's upgrade to newer American-made equipment began to stagnate.

Major General Richard G. Ciccolella, Chief of the US Military Assistance Advisory Group, Taiwan, requested for free or low-cost access to military equipment from the US Asia-Pacific garrison under the US military's "Major Item Material Excess" (MIMEX) program and "Military Assistance Program Excess" (MAP EXCESS) program. Excess or discarded weapons and equipment could be handed over to the ROC Army for them to repair and reacquire. The repair and reacquire program was formally implemented in 1968, and the National Army called the plan a "Diligence" program. On the other hand, the ROC Army had been responsible for the repairing of damaged equipment in the Vietnam War since 1967 as the US military elements stationed in Vietnam lacked the ability to overhaul tanks and other special purpose vehicles. Among these American equipment, the heavily damaged equipment that was too difficult to repair was recovered and acquired by the ROC army. This program is called the "Repair Assistance" program. These programs were the two main approaches for the ROC Army to obtain American-made equipment at that time.

In 1973, the National Army purchased 60 M48A1 "Patton" medium tanks from the United States in four batches through the program codenamed "Fire Bull". An additional 100 M48A1 tanks were purchased under "Fire Bull I" program in late 1973. The first batch of 60 tanks is mainly equipped by the 711st Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade, and the additional 100 tanks purchased are spread across the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Armored Brigades. In 1977, the "Fire Bull II" project was implemented and 100 M48A1 tanks were purchased, these 100 tanks were equipped to the 51st Armored Brigade and the 64th Armored Brigade. Later in the same year, the last batch of 56 M48A2 tanks in US preserves were purchased. Before the purchase of M48A1 medium tanks, the ROC Army was only equipped with a number of M41 light tanks, therefore these M48A1 medium tanks constituted the backbone of the ROC Army's armoured forces.

(Fire Bull or "火牛", refers to a historical story of sneak raid that using bulls on fire as pioneer )

The ROCA upgrade project of M48

The ROC Army Joint Logistics Command launched a series of plans for self-developed tanks and armoured vehicles in 1975, codenamed the "Wan Sheng" project. The "Wan Sheng IV" prototype was built under such a background and, imitating the M48A5 medium tank introduced by the United States in 1973. The Army expected to improve the combat effectiveness of its M48 tanks up to the standard of the US M60A1 tank by upgrading the old M48A1 to M48A5 standard. Compared with the M48A1, the "Wan Sheng IV" prototype had enhanced equipment such as the M68 105 mm cannon, IR night vision optics, and an optical rangefinder, but retains the original hull structure without further modification. Therefore, the "Wan Sheng IV" prototype is not as capable as the standard M48A5 in terms of reliability, endurance and fire control system. Since the Army still hoped to purchase M60 medium tanks directly from the United States at the time, only one vehicle was modified under the "Wan Sheng IV" project and it never saw mass production.

In 1978, Mainland China and the United States issued the "China-US Announcement on Solving the Issue of US Arms Sale to Taiwan", while in the following year, Republic of China formally severed diplomatic relations with the United States and the Sino-US Mutual Defense Treaty also expired at the end of 1979. Therefore, Taiwan could no longer obtain new weapons from the United States in the close future.

In the meantime, the M48A1/A2 medium tanks equipped by the national army were very outdated and the Army was particularly dissatisfied with the M48's original AVSI-1790-6 gasoline engine, believing that its reliability and range could not meet the demand. As the result, the Army Ordnance Industry Development Center under the Joint Logistics Command purchased a batch of AV-1790-2DM diesel engines to upgrade the power components of the M48 in service. The ROC Army designated these tanks as M48A3. However, this batch of tanks lacked the structural upgrade of the engine compartment like the standard M48A3. Not only did these tanks look different, their fire control systems and suspension systems were also inferior compared to the standard US M48A3 tanks. Therefore, the M48A3 tank modified by the national army is only a combination of the M48A1 and an upgraded power station.

(Wan Sheng or "萬乘", means thousands of combat vehicles, is a Chinese allusion referring to a powerful army and therefore a strong nation)

CM11 and CM12

After the failed attempt by the ROC Army to purchase M48A5 and "Magach III" tanks from Spain, South Africa and Israel, the imitation and transformation project for a new tank was launched again in 1984. The ROC Army's tank research and development center and General Dynamics jointly designed a second-generation main battle tank "Brave Tiger", designated as M48H (or CM11 later).

The "Brave Tiger" MBT is a hybrid of an enhanced M48 turret and a M60 chassis, equipped with a cutting-edge FCS that comes from the M1 Abrams. Therefore, "Brave Tiger" was designated as M48H (H for Hybrid). The Army Fighting Vehicle R&D Center purchased 450 M60 tank chassis for modification before the M60 production line ever shut down. The "Brave Tiger" tank began testing in 1988. It officially entered service in the ROC Army on April 14th, 1990.

The Army Ordnance Industry Development Center transformed a total number of 550 turrets. After 450 M48H tanks were assembled on the CM11 "Brave Tiger", the remaining 100 turrets were assigned to the old M48A3 tanks. These upgraded M48A3 tanks are known as CM12 MBTs. The Army Ordnance Industry Development Center continued to carry out the transformation of the M48A3 tank, and a total of 250 CM12 tanks were produced.

After the Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis in 1996, in order to curb the CCP's attempt to invade Taiwan by force, the United States sold 450 M60A3 tanks to Republic of China. At present time, the armoured combat forces of the Republic of China Army are mainly equipped with CM11 "Brave Tiger" MBTs and M60A3 MBTs. Due to lack of reliability, most of the CM12 tanks are stored as reserve forces.

PLA’s evaluation of captured ARVN M48A3

After the Viet Cong defeated the Republic of Vietnam, the Vietnamese Defense Minister Võ Nguyên Giáp presented an personal gift of a batch of US-made weapons including M48A3 tanks and M113 APCs to Chinese Defense Minister Ye Jianying. After evaluating the M48A3 tank, the Armored Forces Technology Research Institute, which is responsible for the R&D of armored vehicle in mainland China, believed that the M48A3 medium tank has many advantages over the Type 59 tank in service. With the advancement of the CCP's military industry, technical advantages of the M48A3 tank such as steering wheel control system, air-cooled engines, and hydraulic transmissions were rapidly absorbed by domestic tanks produced subsequently.

The captured ARVN M48A3 tank is currently on public display in the Family Courtyard No. 4, Huaishuling, Fengtai District, Beijing.

Media

Images
Videos

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

  • reference to the series of the vehicles;
  • links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the tank;
  • other literature.


China medium tanks
ZTZ59  Type 59 · ZTZ59A · ZTZ59D1
ZTZ69  Type 69 · Type 69-IIa · T-69 II G
ZTZ88/96  ZTZ88A · ZTZ88B
  ZTZ96 · ZTZ96A · ZTZ96A (P)
ZTZ99  ZTZ99-II · ZTZ99-III
ZTZ99A  ZTZ99A · WZ1001(E) LCT
Export series  MBT2000 · VT-4A1
ROC  CM11
Other  Т-34-85 Gai · Object 122MT "MC"
Japan  ␗Chi-Ha · ␗Chi-Ha Kai
USA  ␗M4A4 · ␗M4A4 (1st PTG) · ␗M4A1 (75) W · ␗M48A1 · ␗M60A3 TTS
USSR  ␗T-34 (1943) · ␗Т-34-85 (S-53) · T-34-85 No.215 · Т-62 №545