By the late 1950s, the M60 had entered development and production. However, this raised the question for what to do with the now outdated supplies of M48 tanks. A proposal was made on 10 June 1959 to retrofit the Army's fleet of M48A1s with components of the M60 tank. The most notable changes included replacing the 90 mm gun with the 105 mm M68 and replacing the gasoline engines with the diesel AVDS-1790-2A. These converted tanks were designated as the M48A3. There was also a plan to completely replace the M48A1's turret with that of the M60, creating the M48A4. However, this decision was cancelled when the expected surplus of M60 turrets (resulting from M60 to M60A2 conversions) never appeared.
The fifth standard, the M48A5, resulted in July 1975 as the M60 was being upgraded to the M60A1 standard, so there was a corresponding effort to maintain commonality by using M60A1 components. In preparation for the project, numerous improvements were made to the general design. The most important was an increase in the number of 105 mm rounds from 43 to 54 and a new low-profile cupola.
I don't understand Wargaming's decisions to buff the armor of the old M48 Patton (at Tier X) to some unhistorical levels, despite the M48A5 remodel. I think giving the M48A5 its historical armor and turning it into a reward tank could give it a little unique flair to the M60A1 I'm proposing. By comparison, the M48A5 is more effective at going hull-down and using its gun depression than the M60A1, despite the worse armor, simply because it lacks the obvious cupola weakspot.
Guns: 105 mm Gun M68
Engines: Continental AVDS-1790-2A (750 hp)
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