Austria has asked for (and will certainly get) US permission to sell its fleet of 170 M60A3 tanks to Egypt, which has offered to pay about $27 million for them. The Austrians took the old M60s out of service in 1998 after acquiring 114 Leopard-2s from the Netherlands. The tanks were maintained in "usable" condition in order to entice buyers to make an offer for them. Egypt has M60A3s in service and is replacing its older Soviet-built tanks with M1s; the 170 M60s will accelerate the retirement of the Soviet-built designs.--Stephen V Cole