Are tanks becoming useless in modern warfare?

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The_Face_of_Boo
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01 Jul 2023, 2:13 am

Looking at all the photos of the destroyed tanks from both sides in the Ukraine war, it seems tanks (not artilleries or missile launchers) are sitting ducks.

My theory that one of the reasons why all these Western nations are giving away their advanced tanks to Ukraine is because they… want to get rid of them :lol:. The maintenance cost is too high and they are well aware of them becoming more and more useless in modern warfare.
All units seem able to counter a tank nowadays: troops with anti-tank equipments, drones, mines, high-precision rockets… etc maybe at the 1/10th or even 1/100th cost of a single tank.

The future of warfare is drones, bots and highly equipped soldiers, there will be no place for tanks.



funeralxempire
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01 Jul 2023, 9:52 pm





I would conclude no, no they are not.

Tanks have always experienced losses in combat, the fact that we see tanks being destroyed in Ukraine doesn't mean much.


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Last edited by funeralxempire on 01 Jul 2023, 10:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.

jimmyjazzuk
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01 Jul 2023, 10:01 pm

Tanks are still useful for quickly and decisively breaking through defensive lines, as long as they are properly supported



Honey69
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02 Jul 2023, 9:50 am

Israel is still going with tanks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkava

They might be appropriate for Israel's next war, although I'm sure that they are taking note of what is happening in Ukraine.


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The_Face_of_Boo
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03 Jul 2023, 12:37 am

Honey69 wrote:
Israel is still going with tanks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkava

They might be appropriate for Israel's next war, although I'm sure that they are taking note of what is happening in Ukraine.



Check what happened to the Israeli tanks in July war 2006.



roronoa79
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03 Jul 2023, 6:02 pm


A pretty long video but the tldr is: no, tanks are far from useless or obsolete. People have been arguing off and on since WWI that the tank was becoming obsolete but it simply is not.

Tanks offer countless benefits to any army. Mobility, flexibility, infantry support, infantry transportation, etc. They have weaknesses, like anything else, and they are more useful in some situations than others, but they are still an integral part of modern warfare. Drones will not make tanks obsolete any more than modern air forces made tanks obsolete. It just is another factor that must be taken into account when using modern armor. Tanks will continue to play a critical role in this war, especially in more mobile, open sections of the front.


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naturalplastic
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04 Jul 2023, 4:10 am

They were saying that in 1973 after the Yom Kippur war. And that it was like "the Battle of Agincourt" when the English longbowmen beat the French knights.

Were not gonna back to all-infantry warefare.



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04 Jul 2023, 7:08 am

jimmyjazzuk wrote:
Tanks are still useful for quickly and decisively breaking through defensive lines, as long as they are properly supported


I think in Ukraine they never are though.ranks are always weak on their own.



jimmyjazzuk
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04 Jul 2023, 11:18 am

Yes there has been some terrible tactics, especially on the Russian side.

Remember the infamous tank columns at the start of the war..



carlos55
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04 Jul 2023, 1:45 pm

Tanks these days should be used within a combined arms operation.

That means with other stuff like air and gunship helicopters support etc..

Where they are used alone like in Ukraine as they don’t have a significant airforce they are more likely to fail.

Drones are very useful but they can be stopped via electronic warfare jamming making relying on them too much quite dangerous.

There was that scene at the end in the clone wars Star Wars movie where whole armies of drones / clones suddenly are immobilised. Of course just a sci if move but it’s not beyond reality so fighter pilots will still likely be used in the future.

I suspect in the future we will see the rise of mini organic brains already used in neuro research but instead used to control military equipment. Not advanced enough to have self awareness but just able to fulfill tasks like advancing on the enemy or piloting planes. Such things would possibly be able to think intelligently on the battlefield and be more immune to electronic jamming.


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funeralxempire
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04 Jul 2023, 8:29 pm


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