Defunct?

This is coolbert:

From the Internet web site "19fortyfive" and thanks to same.

"The Ukraine War Might Mean Tanks Are The New Battleship (As In Obsolete)"

By Peter Suciu.

"After a Century, Has the Age of the Tank Passed? – As Russian losses in Ukraine mount, the main battle tank (MBT) could soon join the battleship in the boneyard of military history. While a true game changer when the first tanks rolled across the battlefields of Europe during World War I, these metal behemoths could be just the latest weapon from another era whose time has passed."

From an article by the Soviet era defector Suvorov: [as written forty years ago!]

"When will we be able to dispense with the tank?"

"One day, in Paris, I bought a book, pulbished in 1927, on the problems of a future war. The author was sober-minded and reasonable. His logic was sound, his anaysis was shrewd and his arugments unassailable. After analyzing the way military equipmenent had developed in his lifetime,the author concluded by declaring that the proper place for the tank was in the museum . . ."

"The belief that the tank is reaching rhe end of its life is itself suprisingly long lived . . . "

"The argument used by the tank's detractor is simple - - 'Just look at the anti-tank rockets [ATGM] - - at their accuracy and their armor-piercing capability!' But this argumnent does not hold water. The anti-tank rocket is a defensive weapon - - part of a passive system. The tank, on the other hand, is an offensive weapon . . . They [tanks] are an offensive weapon and they have the initiative in battle, being able to choose when and where to attack and how strong a force to use."

"The hope that the perfection of anti-tank weapons would lead to the death of the tank has been shown to be completely unfounded."

Tanks as used in massive numbers as part of a combined arms offensive operation [infantry, armor, artillery, combat aviation] working in unison, using the proper type of tactics can overwhelm any sort of  defense by the use of numbers and firepower. You the defender even if your weapons effective will not be able to shoot fast enough and often enough.

Defenses when ruptured will allow the armor formation to advance forward very quickly, rear echelon units the target, denying the adversary any attempt to reconstitute their former posture.

Such is the theory. What we see in Ukraine, the apparent extreme vulnerability of armor, is more the result of Russian incompetence than anything else?

coolbert.