Posted on 03/29/2022 5:18:10 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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.
The truth is that from the introduction of the tanks at the Battle of the Somme in September 1916, enemies have looked at ways to counter the armored platforms. In the final years of the First World War, the German military simply adopted oversized bolt action rifle – the Mauser 13.2mm Tank Abwehr Gewehr Model 18, also known as the “Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr” – yet by the end of Second World War, a variety of anti-tank rockets had been developed.
Anti-tank weapons certainly improved in the years since, and now small man-portable weapons have tipped the scales considerably.
“An infantry that is determined to fight is now super-empowered by having things like a huge number of point-and-shoot disposable anti-tank rockets,” Edward Luttwak, a military strategist who consults for governments around the world, told Insider.
An Expensive Platform
Notably absent from Ukraine has been Russia’s state-of-the-art T-14 Armata – a tank that was touted for its advanced capabilities.
The Armata platform was developed to resist NATO anti-tank shells, including most armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot (APFSDS) rounds; and it features an unmanned turret to help improve the “survivability” of its crew. The T-14 was designed to be equipped with multilayer reactive armor, which is reportedly able to intercept enemy munitions including sub-caliber rounds such as those from anti-tank guided missiles, rockets and RPGs.
(Excerpt) Read more at 19fortyfive.com ...
Ex. Pres. Poroshenko was in the streets a couple weeks ago (may still be) and said his street militia’s Javelins had been 100% effective. Granted I don’t know if all the targets were tanks, but he also had N-LAWS — it’d make sense to use the Javelins against the toughest targets in appropriate situations, IF they had that choice.
There have been multiple vids of anti-tank missiles succeeding vs. defensive counterfire (see “Trophy” reference above.) I am going to guess that at this time the Russians just don’t have as effective a system as Trophy or FIST. However, even if they did, I can think of ways to defeat such systems, and if I can, other people surely already have too. Whether such are operational by anybody I don’t know.
Cost may be as low as $20,000 for Chinese AT missiles based off the Javelin design, and is over $80,000 for Javelins. That sounds like a lot, but is over an order of magnitude cheaper than a good tank.
Interesting article on various AT missiles:
http://www.military-today.com/missiles/top_10_portable_atgms.htm
High on the list of weapons the Ukrainians are requesting from the US and other countries are main battle tanks.
Thanks. Interesting info for the armchair strategist.
The harrier’s primary mode isn’t hover, it’s fixed wing flight. If I were to guess, I would say that it would not do well against fighters or helos.
What war?
The Harrier has the 2nd best air-air kill ratio. The first is the F15.
https://migflug.com/jetflights/the-combat-statistics-for-all-the-aircraft-currently-in-use/
The Harrier is designed as a BOMBER; the F15 is designed as an Air Superiority FIGHTER. In exercises, the Harrier bomber beat the air superiority fighter 3:1. That’s like saying my delivery van can beat your Ferrari off the line 3:1, let’s see how your Ferrari does in delivering a ton of Amazon boxes.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1342535/posts?page=78#78
excerpt from a magazine, “NATO Warplanes”, from 1985 and has the page #37 on the bottom. ... the front has a tear off which includes a table showing the Kill Ratios of the Sea Harrier vs. Other aircraft. Here’s the Table:
Sea Harrier Success Record in Combat Engagements During Peacetime Exercises
(Figure 3)
VENUE ADVERSARY KILL RATIO
(Sea Harrier Wins: Adversary Wins)
Decimomannu 81 F15 & F5E 12:4
Decimomannu 83 F16 31:14
Alconbury F5E 3:1
NATO Sea Exercise F14 3:1 to 10:1
United Kingdom F4 10:1
Use horses.
AI robot soldiers mean the end of human armies and police. And the end of freedom.
Drone wars are the future.
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