List of Main Battle Tanks By Generation - Second Generation

Second Generation

The second generation had enhanced night-fighting capabilities and in most cases NBC protection. Most western tanks of this generation were armed with the 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7 tank gun.

Name	Entered service in	Origin	Notes
M60 Patton	1961	United States
T-62	1961	Soviet Union	Based on the T-55
Leopard 1	1965	West Germany
Panzer 61	1965	Switzerland
AMX 30	1966	France
FV 4201 Chieftain	1966	United Kingdom	Armed with the British 120 mm Royal Ordnance L11A5 gun
T-64	1966	Soviet Union	Sometimes seen as 2.5th generation tank. Hilmes puts the T-64 in the first intermediate generation.
Vickers MBT	1967	United Kingdom	British private venture design, license built as the Vijayanta for India
Stridsvagn 103	1968	Sweden	Turretless design developed and employed solely by Sweden
T-72	1973	Soviet Union	Sometimes seen as 2.5th generation tank. Hilmes puts the T-72 in the first intermediate generation.
Type 74	1975	Japan
Merkava Mark I/II	1978	Israel
Tanque Argentino Mediano	1983	Argentina
Type 69/79	1983	China	Based on the Type 59
M-84	1984	Yugoslavia	Ugraded Yugoslavian version of the T-72
Ch'onma-ho	1980s	Soviet Union / North Korea	Licensed copy of the T-62; later versions include upgrades.
Type 88	1980s	China	Variants include the Type 80 and Type 85