Combat vehicles such as the American M1 Abrams and the Russian T-14 Armata are examples of state-of-the-art tanks, equipped with a range of powerful sensors and advanced weaponry for 21st-century warfare.
However, whether for financial reasons or not needing a cutting-edge combat vehicle, many countries still have tanks in their arsenals that began production between the 1940s and 1950s. Check out some of these models below.
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M3 Stuart
The Paraguay currently has the world’s oldest combat vehicle still in operation. It is the M3 Stuart, a light combat vehicle from 1941 used by the United States in World War II and also by its allies, including Brazil.
Weighing just over 14 tons, the armored vehicle originally had a 250 hp diesel engine and a 37 mm cannon.
Considered obsolete by the end of the world war, it continued to be used outside the US for several decades. Paraguay obtained its Stuarts in the 1970s, a donation made by Brazil.
T-34
The terror of German Panzers in World War II, the T-34 is a 26-ton armored vehicle that is another veteran of the world conflict still present in the arsenals of various countries.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union sent its allies several examples of the T-35-85 version, equipped with an 85 mm cannon and a V12 diesel engine with over 500 hp. It remains in use in countries like Vietnam and North Korea.
M47 Patton
In service since 1951, the MBT M47 Patton was one of the most powerful war tanks of the early Cold War era. Weighing 44 tons, it features a 90 mm cannon and an 816 hp diesel engine.
Widely used by the United States and other countries worldwide, it remains in use in Iran, which received its units at a time when the country was a strategic US ally in the Middle East.
T-54
T-54. Wikipedia
In service in 1947, the Soviet T-54 was designed as a replacement for the legendary T-34. Weighing 36 tons, it features a 100 mm cannon and initially had a 500 hp diesel engine.
The model became the main battle tank of the Soviet Union and the countries of the former Warsaw Pact and still remains in use in countries such as Guinea and Laos.
Centurion
Olifant Mk2. Wikipedia
The first tank introduced by the British after World War II, the Centurion is a 51-ton armored vehicle equipped with a 77 mm cannon that originally had the gasoline Rolls-Royce Meteor engine with 653 hp. A modified version of the Merlin used in Spitfire fighters.
The Centurion remains in operation today in South Africa under the name Olifant. It is an extensively modified version created in the African country in the 1970s, with improvements in armor, a 105 mm cannon, and a diesel engine.
