Iran has unveiled an upgraded variant of the US-origin M-60 Patton tank called ‘Soleiman-402’ in the wake of a widening rift with the United States and Israel.
Despite decades of bitter hostility, Iran is one of the few remaining users of archaic US military equipment that was acquired by the country before the Iranian revolution. The country has been under U.S. sanctions since 1979 and has struggled to get authentic spare parts to maintain its aging fleet of Cold War-era equipment.
However, that has not stopped the country from extensively upgrading the second-generation M-60 Patton tanks with better maneuverability and more destructive power.
On September 2, Iran unveiled a domestically upgraded variant of the tank at a ceremony held in Tehran in the presence of the Iranian Army chief commander, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, and Commander of the Ground Force of the Iranian Army, Brigadier General Kiumars Heidari. The images of the new tank have gone viral on social media.
According to the official news agency IRNA, Iranian experts made the upgrades at a production and repair center for army ground forces in Tehran. The Soleiman-402 tank has reportedly been furnished with a commander’s machine gun on a two-degree-of-freedom mobility platform, a coaxial machine gun, and a weapons fire control system.
The tank has reportedly received a comprehensive overhaul, which includes a new commander’s turret, reactive armor, infrared jamming, smoke grenades, back, front, and side view cameras, fire alarms, and suppression systems.
Additionally, some local media reports noted that this newly unveiled tank has night vision cameras, which will allow it to conduct 24/7 operations. According to Iranian reports, a feature of the tank that stands out is its ability to aim and hit targets while in motion.
The United States Marine Corps, one of the more inventive sections of the US military, used the M-60 in combat against Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army, even though the Army had given up on it in favor of the M1 Abrams MBT by the beginning of Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
There was only one Marine M-60 lost in action against the Iraqis. In the meantime, 100 Iraqi tanks were destroyed by the Marines using M-60s.
Iran’s principal adversary, the Israel Defense Forces, similarly employed the tank. During the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the M-60 was rigorously evaluated in direct tank engagements against Soviet models.
During this conflict, Israel’s Magach main battle tanks were equipped with explosive-reactive armor. Following the 1982 Lebanon War, Israel’s fleet of M-60s received additional upgrades, including updated fire controls and thermal sleeves. Later, Israel’s indigenously developed Merkava tanks replaced the M-60s.
