The American M60A1 battle tank, with its powerful 105 mm cannon, was the answer to the Soviet T-62. It remained in service for many years, was continually upgraded and from the nineteen sixties into the eighties it formed the backbone of the US forces in Europe. In 1991 the US marines used the M60A1 to retake Kuwait International Airport, for which it received additional reactive armour in plate form. Later some of these were also passed to the Italian UN contingent in Somalia. The M60A1 was also used in Austria. Israeli M60A1s were used for the first time in 1973.