[11] 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.

After the conclusion of World War II, the United States Ordnance Tank-Automotive Command (OTAC) drastically slowed or canceled many tank development and design programs.

[9]: 2  It was decided that weight designations (Light, Medium, Heavy) were no longer applicable due to changes in the way tanks were developed and employed on the battlefield, and the varying calibers of main guns now available.

The United States entered a period of frenzied activity during the crisis atmosphere of the Korean War, when America seemed to lag behind the Soviet Union in terms of tank quality and quantity.

The power pack consisted of the Continental AV-1790-5B gasoline engine producing 704 brake horsepower coupled to an Allison CD-850-4A cross-drive transmission with 2 forward and 1 reverse ranges.

These Army Combat Vehicle (ARCOVE) committees included military and industrial representatives who provided early warning of defects and recommended remedies.

The weight of conventional armored steel needed to provide protection against the emerging large-caliber high-velocity main guns and improved APDS kinetic energy penetrators was making its continued use impractical.

These mechanical fire control systems permitted tanks to engage effectively at much longer ranges than in World War II, a critical consideration for the Army, expecting to enter the European battlefield outnumbered.

The Army expected difficulties in engagements with the Soviet IS-3 heavy tank, since the M47's M36/T119 90 mm rifled main gun could not consistently penetrate its frontal armor, even with special armor-piercing capped (APC) or HEAT ammunition.

Originally the M48(Mod A) that was built by Chrysler Defense at the OTAC Test Center (T48 Pilot #1) in 1951 used the Continental AV-1790-5B coupled to a General Motors CD-850-4A cross-drive transmission as used for the M47.

The M48's direct fire control system consisted of an M12/T41 stereoscopic rangefinder with a field of view of 5 degrees and magnification of x7.5, an azimuth indicator, an M20 gunner's periscope and a T13 super elevation actuator.

[36] At this same time the US Army Field Forces (AFF) declared the T42 medium tank unfit for production in November 1952, mainly due to serious shortcomings of its hull design.

In addition detachable headlights, armored boxes around the taillights, newly redesigned mudguards, an updated fuel delivery system and a tank infantry phone were added.

The Bureau of the Budget believed that the Army was not progressing with sufficient speed in its tank modernization program and recommended the immediate replacement of the M48A2 as well as better quality control.

[40] In November 1955 the Army awarded American Locomotive Company a $73 million contract to begin producing 600 M48A2s the next year at the Schenectady Tank Plant, New York.

ARCOVE and the Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics (DCSLOG) submitted a proposal for a tank based on the M48A2 featuring improved firepower and a compression ignition engine and started the design development of the XM60 in September 1957.

[34] M48A2s were widely deployed to both the US Army and US Marine Corps fully replacing the M47 Patton in combat units as well as being exported to NATO allies and foreign governments.

The M48A2 hull received modified armored boxing around the taillights, an updated fuel delivery system and a tank infantry phone (TIP).

[16] Continental Motors and OTAC began to develop an experimental X-shaped vapour-cycled engine design powered by hydrocarbons in 1954 for the T95 tank but it remained unreliable.

[17]: 31 By August 1956 the diesel powered AVDS-1790 was recommended as meeting this requirement,[20][page needed] and the Army requested the initial retrofitting of approximately 1,020 older M48A1s and A2s with the new engine in December.

M48A3 tanks could have either three or five support rollers on each side and might have either the early or later type headlight assemblies, some retained their earlier Mod A turrets and different cupola styles.

[49] After a brief examination of this tank's armor and 100 mm gun by a British military attaché, the UK decided that their 20 pounder (84mm L/66.7) was apparently incapable of defeating it.

[50] In response to this the US Army started development of the XM60 to replace the M48 tank series and incorporating the ARCOVE recommendation of a more powerful main gun, the Royal Ordnance L7 (105mm T254).

The tanks were parked in a holding pen at the WI ARNG Mobilization and Training Equipment Site (MATES) and later transferred to the Moroccan Army.

Some of the modifications included removal of the M1 cupola, different models of machine guns, electronics, fire control systems or radios, external armor plates, smoke launchers and power packs.

[64] On 23 April 1972, tankers of the 20th Tank Regiment were attacked by a PAVN infantry-tank team, which was equipped with the new 9M14M Malyutka (NATO designation: Sagger) wire-guided anti-tank missile.

M48s, along with Australian 20 pounder (84 mm)-gunned[63]: 113  Centurions of the 1st Armoured Regiment,[64] were the only vehicles in use by the anti-communist side in the Vietnam War that could reasonably protect their crews from land mines.

In most cases, an M48 that struck a land mine in these operations only lost a road wheel or two in the explosion; seldom was there any hull damage that would be considered a catastrophic kill.

On the Sinai battlefront, Israeli M48s upgunned with the then-advanced 105 mm L7 rifled tank gun were used with considerable success against Egyptian IS-3s, T-54s/T-55s, T-34/85s and SU-100s supplied by the Soviet Union during the 1950s and the 1960s (such as during the Second Battle of Abu-Ageila.

On 10 June 1982, eight Israeli M48A3s, two M60A1s and at least three M113 APCs were lost in a successful ambush by Syrian T-55 tanks and BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982.