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Ranked: The Top 10 Main Battle Tanks in the World
The National Interest ^ | 5/4/24 | The National Interest

Posted on 05/11/2024 6:13:02 AM PDT by hardspunned

The Main Battle Tank (MBT) is a hallmark of modern warfare. Since the final years of the First World War, the land battleship concept has enchanted the minds of ground warfare planners. Armor, speed, mobility, strength, were once all key components in determining which nation had the greatest tanks.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: blyatmobile; surebuddy
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Wrong. They’re all obsolete. The most effective tank on the modern battlefield is the one with the $100 in scrap angle iron and sheet metal “turtle tank” upgrade. The Russians do the upgrade on the battlefield, General Dynamics can pull the Abrams back to Lima, Ohio where the nine month scrap metal upgrade costs $3.5 million per tank.

https://youtu.be/s7p2-tMS4UE?si=ymGS-_o4R2G-pd8X

1 posted on 05/11/2024 6:13:02 AM PDT by hardspunned
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To: hardspunned

The Ukrainians recently pulled all of the M1 Abrams tanks — a gift extorted from the American taxpayer — off the front line, saying they were “weak and vulnerable.”


2 posted on 05/11/2024 7:12:53 AM PDT by Blurb2350 (posted from my 1500-watt blow dryer)
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To: hardspunned
MBTs can still be effective if used correctly, but everyone is scrambling to figure out the new doctrine.

The author starts by praising the T-14 Armada, which isn't in service and doesn't actually exist as a viable weapon since it was a Russian propaganda/ grift program. I didn't bother reading after that.

3 posted on 05/11/2024 7:16:55 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
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To: Blurb2350

Can you link us to the origin of that quote?


4 posted on 05/11/2024 7:25:29 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Pan_Yan

The author ranks the T-72 as the world’s greatest tank.

1. Russian T-72
The reason that this old Soviet tank is the best in the world is because of the fact that it is used by multiple countries.
“this is the greatest tank in the world today.”


5 posted on 05/11/2024 7:28:44 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Pan_Yan

I always laugh at those sanctimonious “I stopped reading when “…

Had you read a bit more you would have seen this’

“Billed as Russia’s greatest tank, this tank is almost too overrated to waste time writing about. Yes, it is truly next-level.

But it is so advanced that it’s way too expensive and complicated to produce in large numbers. Because of its unique technological nature, the tank was pulled early on from the frontlines of Ukraine out of fear that losing even one of these MBTs would be gravely detrimental to Russia. So, regardless of the high level of technology built into this platform; irrespective of how scared of it Western strategists are, it’s a wasting asset for Russia.


6 posted on 05/11/2024 7:33:54 AM PDT by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI. )
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To: ansel12

Yeah, that was some very convoluted reasoning. Because Yemen, and Angola and Cuba etc etc use it… It’s the best in the world. Never mind that the only time it went up against US forces head to head in desert storm, M1 tanks were undefeated fighting them. I don’t believe a T 72 was able to take a single M1 out of service.

And it’s failing in Ukraine says far more about export versions, in the band’ hands of poorly trained soldiers, operating higgildy piggildy with no coordination in an environment without control of the air. Has it been a US armored division under a battlefield dominated by USAF, you wouldn’t be seeing “M1 tank fails!” stories.


7 posted on 05/11/2024 7:40:51 AM PDT by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI. )
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To: ansel12
Here's a pretty good overview of the M1 Abrams' weakness vs. Russia and their being pulled from frontline combat -- in a word, drones! Let me see if I can relocate that "weak and vulnerable" quote. It may have been a Ukrainian general speaking "on condition of anonymity."
8 posted on 05/11/2024 7:45:11 AM PDT by Blurb2350 (posted from my 1500-watt blow dryer)
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To: hardspunned

Drones rule. A$500 drone can destroy a $3 million dollar tank easily.


9 posted on 05/11/2024 7:45:40 AM PDT by Uncle Lonny
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To: hardspunned
General Dynamics can pull the Abrams back to Lima, Ohio where the nine month scrap metal upgrade costs $3.5 million per tank.

Perfectly said.

10 posted on 05/11/2024 7:52:00 AM PDT by Thommas (The snout of the camel is already under the tent.)
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To: hardspunned

The T90M is supposed to be the best Russian tank in production. Vlad V. Putin claims it is unstoppable. 45 of which have been destroyed in UKR.

The largest type of Russian tank, out of the 2000 destroyed, is the T-72 in all its varieties.


11 posted on 05/11/2024 7:54:01 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Blurb2350

the key here is a well-practiced and cohesive tank crew. Targeting and shooting on the move, etc. I doubt UKR tank crews have that much experience with them.


12 posted on 05/11/2024 7:56:11 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: hardspunned

Huh? The M-1 Abrams is not the modern Abrams. It is is the in-storage European stockpile surplus. That model was first rolled out in 1995.
These tanks do not have modern armor. They have tungston armor. No modern electronics are in them

So, any badmouthing of the M-1 is because they aren’t aware that these are export older models that were sitting in storage. Same name, same look, but not the same tank.

The Ukranians were used to Russian tanks, not western ones. They weren’t raised in them like the US military. How much loss is due to that and using them in the Russian tank doctrine?

Finally, T-72? The older M-1 used the T-72 as target practice in the Iraq wars. What updates they have undergone I wouldn’t know. So I wouldn’t be so down on giving these tanks to Ukraine. Give them more. They are just paperweights in parking lots as is. The more we give the Ukrainians the more we drain the actual threat to the West.

We spent 7 trillion dollars in the cold war. Stopping them this time with used “cars” seems like a deal.


13 posted on 05/11/2024 8:11:36 AM PDT by Eastern Shore Virginian (Yea, I sometimes gild the lily.)
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To: Blurb2350

“”””The Ukrainians recently pulled all of the M1 Abrams tanks — a gift extorted from the American taxpayer — off the front line, saying they were “weak and vulnerable.””””

The Ukrainian governments statement with your quote is what I was hoping you would link to.


14 posted on 05/11/2024 9:38:29 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: DesertRhino

The losses of the T-54/55 aren’t a whole lot worse than the 5 M1s lost, perhaps this guy should move it to his list.

“The split of documented Russian tank losses by platform:

T-54/55: 8
T-62: 136
T-64: 92
T-72: 1441
T-80: 840
T-90: 136
unknown tank: 347


15 posted on 05/11/2024 9:44:35 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: hardspunned

An M-1 commander from Fort Riley attended our church before being transferred. I asked him one day what possible opposing tank would be the biggest threat to the Abrams and he immediately answered the Israeli Merkava.


16 posted on 05/11/2024 10:06:39 AM PDT by CommerceComet (Re-elect Donald Trump - AGAIN)
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To: hardspunned

In 5 years, the best tank will be a remote controlled tank with AI that is cheap to make and expendable.


17 posted on 05/11/2024 1:18:34 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant

I believe you are right. Since the profit margin and maintenance cost on such a tank would be very low, don’t expect the MIC to supply America with anything like that.


18 posted on 05/11/2024 3:31:13 PM PDT by hardspunned (Former DC GOP globalist stooge)
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To: hardspunned
The Challenger Mark II is overrated, the M-1 Abrams is second place to the T-72, the T-72 is the best MBT in the world?

Who is this guy?

"Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon."
Looking through his back articles at the National Interest, I smell a political grifter pandering to the Trump vote. (¬_¬)
19 posted on 05/11/2024 7:55:44 PM PDT by Widget Jr (🇺🇦 Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 🛇 CCCP 2.0 🛇)
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To: Widget Jr

It’s a BS article. Oh my, let’s rank buggy whips. All of these tanks are obsolete.


20 posted on 05/11/2024 8:26:30 PM PDT by hardspunned (Former DC GOP globalist stooge)
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