you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 10 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

Yes and no.

While tanks as classic MBTs have likely become less relevant (at least in their current form) there are various scenarios in which tanks could adapt to modern battlefields.

As long as the reason for the tank’s existence (operating on the battlefield under armored protection and providing heavy, direct fire support for the infantry) remains, the weapon system will likely not become completely obsolete. In my opinion, this is also evident from the fact that tanks (some with improvised modifications) are still being used by both sides in the war in Ukraine. If tanks were obsolete, they’d be rusting away in some storage yard by now.

On top of that, the tank as a concept has been declared dead time and time again (after World War I, after World War II, after the end of the Cold War), and so on. I think the current “tank crisis” should also be viewed in this context.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 3 hours ago* (2 children)

    Did somebody actually say tanks were dead after WWI? Tanks were brand new!

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 2 hours ago (1 child)

    Yes, in fact, some people at the time declared the tank dead for the first time. Trench warfare was a thing of the past, and so the question arose as to why we would still need a vehicle that had only proven its worth through trench warfare (the first tanks were designed to break through heavy defenses and, in particular, to eliminate machine-gun nests).

    These commentators were even correct in that the subsequent wars were no longer trench wars, and the tank diversified beyond its role as a breakthrough vehicle, evolving (among other things) into a system of one-on-one combat over the course of the next major war.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago* (last edited 41 minutes ago)

    Wow, so I guess they were picturing everything reverting back to 19th-century warfare? Or maybe, they were picturing what actually happened, but they didn't know what to call the heavy, but still fast and maneuverable, gun platforms we now call "tanks".

    I guess it goes to show that you have to consider what a new military technology adds, as well as what it subtracts.

  • source
  • parent