Tanks in the Cold War Korean War M24 Chaffee's were the first U.S. tanks to fight the North Korean T-34-85s. The Chaffee fared poorly against these much better-armed and armored medium tanks. Chaffees were more successful later in the war in their reconnaissance role, supported by heavier tanks such as the M4 Sherman, M26 Pershing, and M46 Patton. The heavier but older Pershing was deemed unsatisfactory due to its inferior mobility, which was unsuitable for a medium tank role as it used the same engine that powered the much lighter M4 Sherman, and 1949, the upgraded M26 received a new power plant and a main
Tanks of the U.S. in the Cold War The T95 Medium tank was developed from 1955 to 1959. These tanks used many advanced or unusual features, such as siliceous-cored armor, the APFSDS-firing 90 mm T208 smoothbore gun in a rigid mounting without a recoil system, a new transmission, and the OPTAC fire-control system, which incorporated the "T53 Optical Tracking, Acquisition and Ranging (OPTAR)" system, emitted pulsed beams of intense but incoherent infrared light. The M26 Pershing saw service in the Korean War. When the war began in June 1950, the four American infantry divisions on occupation duty in Japan had no medium tanks, had only light tanks. These