Samsam Tank - M-60A1 Upgrade
On 05 February 2013 the army unveiled an optimized version of Zolfaqar and Samsam tanks on the occasion of the Ten-Day Dawn ceremonies, celebrating the victory of the Islamic Revolution back in 1979. The Army's newly unveiled Samsam tank is said to be an upgrade of the M-60A1 battle tank.
The M60-A-1 model in combat mode weighs more than 50 tons and is equipped with a 750 horsepower engine. The main weapon of this tank is a 105 mm cannon, and a 7.62 mm gun coaxial with it and a 50 hundred inch ( 12.7 mm ) caliber gun are also used as secondary weapons. In line with the improvement of the existing equipment, along with the effort to build new tanks, with the development of the necessary technologies, the M60 tanks were also included in the improvement program. M-60 tanks did not have any weapon stabilization system and night vision systems as standard. Equipped with a periscope with night vision for the tank driver, which has features such as a 30-degree field of view and the time needed to open and close in about 30 seconds. Iran was able to carry out a relatively acceptable plan called Samsam (Farsi for sword) to upgrade this type of tanks with research work on M-60 tanks. Despite being effective compared to the prototypes of the tank that was imported to Iran, this design is an innovative and almost up-to-date product. Equipping with a ball stabilizer that works vertically and horizontally is one of the important changes in this tank. Equipping with a panoramic optical system for the tank commander is one of the distinctive features of the "Samsam" tank.
This system does not need a turret to cover horizontal and vertical directions. The magnification power of this system is 7 times that of M60 tanks. One of the most important aspects of improving this tank is equipping it with the EFCS-3 fire control system for accurate and reliable ball targeting. It was supposed that with the help of such a system, the work of targeting would be very fast and extremely accurate at night and day, and the probability of the cannonball hitting the target in the first shot would increase greatly.
M60 is one of the armored platforms that had undergone heavy upgrade programs in various countries and continues to serve in many countries of the world. This tank has been upgraded by Turkey, Jordan, USA and Spain and is still in service in many countries of the world. After the end of the imposed war, and considering that the M60 delivered to the country before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, were among the early models, the Islamic Republic of Iran started the upgrade program of this tank using domestic power. which includes several important parts of this tank's systems.
Iran bought 460 M60A1s from America in 1969-70. The most important modifications include the installation of the Slovenian EFCS-3 fire control system, which is also used in other Iranian tanks, weapon stabilization system, night vision equipment, laser warning system and selective reactive armor.
Equipping with a ball stabilizer that works vertically and horizontally is one of the important changes of the model available in Iran of this tank. The main features of this system include the electro-hydraulic nature of its power generators, upgraded hydraulic system, improved instrument control panel for the gunner, central control unit, gyroscope and three-phase power supply. Equipping with a panoramic optical sight for the tank commander is another difference between Samsam and the previous model of the M-60 tank. This site does not need a turret to cover the horizontal and vertical directions, and of course, it has been stabilized in these directions as well. This optical system has the ability to magnify up to 7 times and the field of view of 8.5 degrees for the camera. This site is also equipped with a laser range finder with a range of 20 kilometers and an accuracy of 10 meters, and it can be linked to anti-aircraft fire so that better targeting can be done by it.
But one of the most important aspects of improving this tank is equipping it with the EFCS-3 fire control system for accurate and reliable ball targeting. With the help of such a system, targeting is very fast, extremely accurate and done at night and day, and the probability of the cannonball hitting the target in the first shot is greatly increased. This system has its own laser range finder with an accuracy of 5 meters. Automatic reception and calculation of ballistic and environmental parameters for targeting, all digital calculation of ballistic parameters in less than 0.1 seconds, second generation night vision system, 7 times magnification and stabilized mirrors in horizontal and vertical directions are among the features of this fire control system.
The EFCS-3 fire control system has the ability to work with several types of projectiles, including APFSDS projectiles. In this type of bullets, by reducing the mass of the projectile, high speeds of about 5 times the speed of sound have been achieved, which, in addition to using denser materials as penetrators, makes it much easier to split the armor of the target tank. The combination of this deadly weapon with the high accuracy of the fire control system has greatly increased the ability of this tank to destroy enemy tanks in the first shot.
By receiving environmental information such as side wind speed, temperature and air pressure, as well as the movement information of the tank and the target, the targeting work has become much more accurate and all the calculations are done at a very high speed and the result is automatically given to the fire control system. The installation of reactive armor of the type of explosive boxes around the turret and the front part of the tank to increase protection against anti-tank weapons is seen in Samsam, which has improved its combat capabilities. Also, smoke grenades similar to the new eastern tanks have been used in this tank instead of the previous ones.
Samsamam is equipped with a native laser warning system that has the ability to cover 360 degrees around the tank, which is equipped to warn of locking laser weapons. Considering the abundance of anti-tank weapons with laser guidance, this system will be of great help in increasing the crew's awareness of the surrounding environment and reducing the risk of being harmed by the enemy. The communication systems of this tank have also been completely updated and use the latest small and advanced wireless with native encoders, thus maintaining communication with other operating units in various battle conditions.
The improvement of the existing tanks in the armed forces, such as the Chieftain, T-54/55, M-60 and even the T-72 tanks that were purchased and built after the war, shows a realistic approach in shaping the combat power of the ground forces by upgrading and matching them. It has old and existing weapons for the needs of today and tomorrow.
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