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Old 05-27-2021, 02:43 PM
Ursus Maior Ursus Maior is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Olefin View Post
the information on the M47's came from the Nato order of battle 1989 mod 8 that is on several websites - its been cited here in several threads

You also have this AP article on US destruction of M-47 tanks required under the CFE

https://apnews.com/article/dc5dc316c...43e1f90595576d

["]The United States will destroy 640 M-47 tanks - they’re almost a half- century old - but has yet to choose a contractor, said Capt. Debra Pressley of the U.S. European command in Stuttgart.["]
I like the NATO OOB document that's on the internet, but it's not always completely accurate. My main problem is the lack of source documentation, but alas, in its core its 20+ years old, so it's history itself.

As per the IISS publication "The Military Balance (1990)", the US (p. 19) had as "MBT: some 15,440: 1,013 M-48A5, 2,659 M-60/M-60AI, 5,328 M-60A3, 6,440 M-I/M-IAI Abrams."

Italy had (p. 71) "MBT: 1,533: 313 M-47 (in store), 300 M-60A1, 920 Leopard (140 in store)."

For 1989 these numbers were (USA, p. 18) "MBT: sorne 15,992: l, III M-48A5, 3,487 M-60/M-60AI, 5,400 M-60A3, 5,994 M-I/M-IAI Abrams."

And (Italy, p. 68) "MBT: 1,720: 500 M-47 (incl200 in reserve), 300 M-60Al, 920 Leopard."

That contradicts the idea that by 1992 640 M47 would have been to be disposed of that previously were in any form of a ready state. Now, AP certainly was right about the disposal, but I cannot reconstruct how the numbers came to pass. Maybe these included tanks returned from allied nations under some leasing contracts.

It's not clear how many of these could have survived until 1995-1997, when tensions rose again and hostilities broke out respectively.
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