The M48 Patton is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed in the United States. It was the third tank to be officially named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle. It was a further development of the M47 Patton tank. The M48 Patton was in U.S. service until replaced by the M60 and served as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps's primary battle tank in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was widely used by U.S. Cold War allies, especially other NATO countries.

The M48 Patton tank was designed to replace the previous M47 Pattons and M4 Shermans. Although largely resembling the M47, the M48 was a completely new design. It was the last U.S. tank to mount the 90 mm tank gun, with the last model, the M48A5, being upgraded to carry the new standard weapon of the M60, the 105mm gun. Some M48A5 models served well into the 1980s with American forces, and many M48s remain in service in other countries. The Turkish Army has the largest number of modernized M48 MBTs, with more than 1,400 in its inventory. Of these, around 1,000 have been phased out or are in storage, or have been modified to ARVs.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a West German M48A2 Patton medium tank that was attached to Panzerbataillon 24, then deployed to Braunschweig, West Germany, during 1962. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 4-3/4-inches
Width: 1-1/2-inches

Release Date: August 2014

Historical Account: "Branching Out" - The Bundeswehr is divided into the military part (armed forces or Streitkrafte) and the civil part with the armed forces administration (Wehrverwaltung), the federal bureau of procurement (Bundesamt far Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung) and the federal bureau for information management and information technology of the Bundeswehr (Bundesamt far Informationsmanagement und Informationstechnik der Bundeswehr, sometimes abbreviated as IT-AmtBw). The military part of the federal defense force consists of Army (Heer), Navy (Marine), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Joint Support Service (Streitkraftebasis), and Central Medical Services (Zentraler Sanitatsdienst) branches.

The Bundeswehr has 200,500 professional soldiers, 55,000 18-25 year-old conscripts who serve for at least nine months under current rules, and 2,500 active reservists at any given time. The number of civilian employees is to be reduced to 75,000 during the coming years. Roughly 300,000 reservists are available to the Armed Forces and participate in defense exercises as well as abroad deployments.

Women have served in the medical service since 1975. In 2000, in a lawsuit brought up by Tanja Kreil, the European Court of Justice issued a ruling allowing women to serve in more roles than previously allowed. Since 2001 they can serve in all functions of service without restriction, but they are not subject to conscription. There are presently around 14,500 women on active duty and a number of female reservists who take part in all duties including peacekeeping missions and other operations. Two female medical officers have been promoted to the rank of General so far.