Taiwan decided to give up on its quest to purchase additional Abrams tanks and opted for upgrading M60A3 main battle tanks it has in service. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence will allocate approximately $6,57 million for a newly developed upgrade programme for approximately 450 M60A3 tanks. 

The program, scheduled to begin in 2018, will look at replacing the main gun from the 105mm M68 to a new 120mm weapon, as well as upgrading the ballistics computer, turret hydraulics and other systems.

After testing and evaluation of the first prototypes, which is expected to be completed in 2019, the main upgrade program will start in 2020.