M48 Patton in a Modern War

Lets say you've been given a number of M48A3s and you have to use them in a modern war. What do you do with them?

For context, the M48A3 was the last variant to use the M41 90mm gun.

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  1. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Scrap them, sell the scrap and buy a plane ticket to Canada. Frick that dawg

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      What if the war is in canada?

  2. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Blowing the OP from the gun.

    FIN.

  3. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    add thermals
    add aps
    replace the 90mm with a nato 105mm
    buy the most modern high performance APFSDS ammo we can get
    upgrade the engine and transmission
    slap some era on

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      I was asking how you use the shitbox as is.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        As is? With no modifications you're fricked, the best bet is hull down defensive positions in ambush areas where you can't be outranged by thermals of more modern vehicles as much and even then you're still under threat from drones detecting you. You could also try and use them in urban environments as a infantry support tank but you're still really really worried about ATGMs.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Plenty of ways, use it as a light SPG, attach it to an infantry unit to add more fire support on top of their IFVs/APCs, dig them in defensive positions, use them for rear area security where they still represent a serious threat to enemy special forces teams, airborne units or navel landings. basically, you use them in a role where their now shit armor and poor sensors aren't automatic losses. For a few grand you can significantly improve them with a few COTS goodies like individual thermal and/or night vision devices, a ballistic calculator on a tablet, a satellite phone or starlink terminal and one or several civilian model camera drones. You can also add additional obsolete/surplus or salvaged weapons to them for even more fire support, use them as artillery tractors or stick on a blade and use them as a bulldozer. In short you would absolutely use them if you could get them in a war and had surplus manpower, but they probably aren't worth putting a lot of work into keeping maintained in peacetime.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          >use it as a light SPG, attach it to an infantry unit to add more fire support on top of their IFVs/APCs, dig them in defensive positions
          useless without adding thermal sights on it
          otherwise it has to visually detect and identify targets

          >use them for rear area security where they still represent a serious threat to enemy special forces teams
          worse at this job than wheeled fast-reaction units like strykers

          >basically, you use them in a role where their now shit armor and poor sensors aren't automatic losses
          unless it has modern thermal sights, it isnt hitting crap

  4. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    I don't know, ask the donbaweans with T-62s. They're living that experience right now.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      T-62s are old news, haven't you seen the mobiks in their "lightly used" T-54s?

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Can't wait for the T-10s to show up.

  5. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >modern war
    Use them solely as infantry support and defensive vehicles, under no circumstances use them as breakthrough vehicles.

  6. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Remove turret, install remote missile launcher equipped with Switchblade 600. Use as long range anti-armor and ISR asset.

  7. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >What do you do with them?
    Probably convert them into TOW/Javelin ATGM carriers with a replacement turret mounting a 25-40mm autocannon and all the modern optics and communication/networking I can shove into it. The Algerians did something similar with their T-62's, picrel.
    If that is too far then rip the turret off and gut all the tank stuff and you can make all sorts of vehicles. Add a box with a towed howitzer and you have a heavily armored ghetto self propelled gun, maybe convert some more to carry artillery ammo. Or use them as a heavy APC like IDF Achzarit which is a conversion of a T-54/55. Maybe make them into armor recovery, command or engineering vehicles.
    I guess baring all those modifications you can still use them in their base form as a fire support vehicle for the infantry to call up.

  8. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    just use them for backline duty, even if you are some African warlord with not that many options I doubt they would be that useful simply due to how much cheap anti tank shit there is that can fricked them and any tank from that era over hard

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      You say that while individual T-55s have been the deciding factor in multiple battles in the current Somaliland war.

  9. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    "modern" war? I scrap them or figure out a way to rip out the 90mms and make them into ghetto artillery for HE lobbing.
    Plus modern war is a misnomer since because nearly all conflicts are still in shitholes like Africa where the M48 would still be a viable breakthrough vehicle due to the minimal amount of AT as we've seen in Somalialand/Somalia where the US had to demand the T-54s weren't used because it provided a one sided tactical advantage.
    The rest of subsaharan Africa is unlikely to have a healthy supply of ATGMs unless they are being supplied by Russia/China/US glowies and in that case, you have to consider that the users of said systems will probably use them incorrectly and waste them like we've seen with ISIS where they were launching TOWs and Kornets at packed soil rather than saving them for AFVs.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >as we've seen in Somalialand/Somalia where the US had to demand the T-54s weren't used because it provided a one sided tactical advantage.
      You got a credible source for that claim, or did you pull a random Twitter screenshot out of your ass? I bet it is the latter

  10. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    I'd use them as infantry support

  11. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    it does have better protection from landmines than later tanks like m60 and t72 due to thicker belly armor but it would need to upgrade the gun imho. or remove all of the armor and give it some sort of assisted loading system to up the rate of fire

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