The T95 was an American prototype medium tank developed from 1955 to 1959. These tanks used many advanced or unusual features, such as siliceous-cored armor, new transmissions, and OPTAR fire-control systems. The OPTAR incorporated an electro-optical rangefinder and was mounted on the right side of the turret, and was used in conjunction with the APFSDS-firing 90 mm T208 smoothbore gun, which had a rigid mount without a recoil system. In addition, although the tanks were designed with a torsion beam suspension, a hydropneumatic suspension was fitted, and one of the tanks was fitted with a Solar Saturn gas turbine for demonstration purposes.
T95 medium tank
The M48 Patton is an American first-generation main battle tank (MBT) introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48. It was designed as a replacement for the M26 Pershing, M4 Sherman, M46 and M47 Patton tanks, and was the main battle tank of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps in the Vietnam War. Nearly 12,000 M48s were built, mainly by Chrysler and American Locomotive Company, from 1952 to 1961. The M48 Patton was the first U.S. medium gun tank with a four-man crew, featuring a centerline driver's compartment and no bow machine gunner. As with nearly all new armored vehicles it had a wide variety of suspension systems, cupola styles, power packs, fenders and other details among individual tanks.
M48A2C Patton at the Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster
Late series M48A1 during cold weather tests at Fort Greely, Alaska, 1955. The main gun is equipped with a T-shaped blast deflector on the muzzle and the driver's station is under a protective cover.
Two U.S. Army M48A1s of F Co., 40th Armor of the Berlin Brigade face off in Berlin against Red Army T-54s during one of several standoffs at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961.
Infantry of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, riding on an M48A3 in Vietnam, 1966