Sir,
I hope not to add to your confusion but the A5 variant is a retrofit, not a new tank. It would make economic sense for the Paks to upgrade their M48 stocks to M60 standards as far as gun and fire control is concerned. However, the 1st M48A5 were deployed in 1975, long after the 1965 war.
Sir, everyone was working on a laser range finder in the late 60s. There were a few prototypes ready but I don't think any were deployed until the 1970s.
Also, Sir
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From Quotes on Indo Pak Tank Battles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Centrurion Tank in Battle" (Osprey - Vanguard 22)- Peter Sarson, Tony Bryan and David E. Smith:
Both sides claimed victory in the conflict, with the Indians demonstrating greater tactifcal skill in the use of armour due to superior crew training. It must be realized that the Indian Armoured Corps had been seduced by Pakistani propaganda and entered the conflict in considerable trepidation, believing the Patton (i.e. M-47s and M-48s) to be vastly superior in terms of firepower, protection and mobility to any tank possessed by the Indians. This concern was reflected in many of the official citations for heroism following the war, one of which commended an NCO for an action against "several of the supposedly invulnerable Pattons...". Indeed, it appears the Pakistanis were victims of their own propaganda and believed the Patton to be virtually indestructible [my remark: this is illustrated by a photo of two Indian soldiers standing on shot-up Pakistani M-48, and pointing at two neat 105 mm holes on the left side of the turet]. This led to their rash tactics in assaulting Indian positions frontally and suffering proportionately higher losses among the Pattons, which invariably led their attacks. In the swirling dust of the Sialkot battles, Centurion fought Patton at ranges seldom exceeding 1,000 yards. The robust Centruion with its simple fire control system proved superior to the M-47 and M-48 Pattons equipped with stereoscopic range-finders and sophisticated ballistic computers, which proved too complex for the ordinary Pakistani "sowar".
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As for the LRF confusion, it may be a simple case of mistaken identity. There were three PATTON tanks, the M47, M48, and M60 of which the M60 was the most advanced. Few people might just look up PATTON and took the M60 as the default tank.
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Originally Posted by Ray
Would a Patton or a Centurion work in the riverine terrain of Bangladesh as in 1971? Obviously not. That is where the amph PT 76 did a great job and PT 76 is hardly comparable to Patton or the Centurion in technical prowess
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Sir, laser range finder or not, it does not diminish one bit Indian tactical prowness at Assal Uttar. Most kills were done by technicals (jeeps with AT guns or RR). Obviously they didn't have any lasers with them.