These tanks used many advanced or unusual features, such as siliceous-cored armor, new transmissions, and OPTAR fire-control systems.

The early APFSDS penetrators fired by the T208 had a low length-to-diameter ratio, this being limited by their brittle tungsten carbide construction, with a diameter of 37 mm, although they had a high muzzle velocity of 1,525 m/s (5,000 ft/s).

The rangefinder, the T53 optical tracking, acquisition and ranging (OPTAR) system, emitted pulsed beams of intense but incoherent infrared light.

This, combined with the large and vulnerable design of the transmitter and receiver assembly, led to the abandonment of the OPTAR system in 1957.

In September 1954, out of many submitted plans, two main examples were chosen – the T95, and the T96, which used a larger and heavier gun with a 105 mm round.

With the hatch sealed the driver operates the tank using three periscopic visual devices, the middle of which is equipped with a night-vision infrared camera from the T161.

The upper part of the forward armor, or glacis, has a thickness of 95 mm and is at an angle of 65 degrees from vertical.

The commander's seat is also in the turret, with a built-in 12.7 mm M2 machine gun, with an M28 periscopic sight for aiming.

All T95 models were equipped with T320 armor-piercing rounds, which have tungsten cores, diameters of 40 mm, and muzzle velocities of 1,520 meters per second.

In order to accommodate the extra length of the rounds (112 cm), the gun was moved forward, preventing stabilization.

The T95E2 and the T95E3 were equipped with fire-control systems, identical to the one used in the M48A2, with stereoscopic rangefinders and mechanical ballistics computers.

At the same time, the development of the X-shaped diesel engine failed, so, starting in mid-1958, other options were considered.

As an interim measure, it was decided to use a modified version of the civilian 12-cylinder, two-stroke, water-cooled, V-type, 570 hp GM 12V71T diesel engine.

The suspension consists of five sets of double road wheels with torsion bar springs.

The number of tracks in a tread was 80 and the length of the bearing surface was 4.2 m. During the development of T95 tank, it became clear that it would not have a significant advantage over the M48A2.

The X-shaped motor and optical rangefinder were both discarded due to performance, and the accuracy of the smoothbore gun continued to be unsatisfactory.