[Webstral]

Turboswede did some excellent work on his Mexican Army Sourcebook. Sales of M60s to Mexico in the early 1990's is an interesting prospect. One could imagine that in after the rise of the new Soviet regime in 1989, a deal like this one might take on enough additional impetus to get completed.

I'm going a slightly different way for Thunder Empire. Following the Soviet renaissance, sales of Western arms pick up a notch. The release of large quantities of hardware from the Soviet stockpile to Third World clients causes the neighbors of the Soviet clients to develop a strong interest in keeping pace. For a variety of reasons, Mexico increases her domestic arms production by striking deals to manufacture modest quantities of French equipment under license. This equipment is aimed at the Latin American market, where the Mexicans expect to have a leg up against European and American manufacturers (including Spain, which manufactured its own AMX-30 fleet under license).

The Mexican entry into the market comes at a unique moment. There is a significant demand in the Western-aligned and non-aligned developing world for an MBT that is easy to maintain and relatively inexpensive. At the same time, many wealthier nations are retiring their fleets of AMX-30, Leopard 1, M47, and M48 in favor of more advanced tanks (now that the Cold War clearly will continue). France is heavily engaged in replacing her existing fleet of MBT with the new LeClerc. Although France can handle some non-domestic demand for upgrading AMX-30, there is an excess of demand. Thus, Mexico enters the licensed production market at a time when AMX-30 are available for rebuilding and a market for rebuilt AMX-30 is growing.

Though annoyed that Mexican-built French arms might displace some American arms in Latin America, the US makes the most of the situation. As Latin American customers begin outlining requirements for new and rebuilt AMX-30, it becomes clear that most of the customers are oriented towards keeping purchase and maintenance costs down. The US strikes a deal with Mexico to provide a large part of the electronics suite of each new tank. Costs are kept down through the use of electronics that are not state-of-the-art but which are durable, reliable, and relatively inexpensive. By mid-1992, the first Mexican refurbished AMX-30 are rolling out of the shop.

Additionally, Mexico opts to build several other important systems under license, most importantly the VAB and VBL. Later, capacity for upgrading ERC 90 F1 to the F4 standard is seen as desirable for nations with small budgets and the need to kill MBT like the T-55.

When China floods the West with orders for equipment of all kinds in late 1995, Mexico finds herself in a position to take advantage of the opportunity, if on a modest scale. AMX-30, VAB, and VBL leave Mexican ports. In addition, the Mexican Army uses the opportunity to shed some of its older systems while setting aside a portion of current production for domestic use. Although some of the systems in use in Mexico were still useful, greater standardization is seen as a cost-savings measure. Consequently, as many DN-IV, DN-V, M8 and other older vehicles as could be replaced are sold. Most of the systems go to China, where formations in low-priority areas and the state security apparatus needed AFV of any sort to replace fighting vehicles being sent to the front. Some systems go to Central America, where anxiety about Soviet clients and leftist revolutionaries combined with scanty budgets to make WW2-era equipment from the Mexican inventory attractive.

As a consequence, by the time of the nuclear exchanges the Mexican Army fields a modest number of AMX-30 backed by a respectable fleet of VAB and ERC 90, both in several variations. Many of the older systems have been sold or scrapped, creating a force that is much more standardized and modernized than had been the case in 1989.