Conformal fuel tanks and drop tanks are two different things, both are used in modern US fighters. The reason we use drop tanks when we have in-flight refueling is they allow the vulnerable in-flight tankers to stay further away from the shooting.
My point is the Russkies make crappy armor.
Hitler didn't think so. The Russians make inexpensive armor, which is a different thing. At about half the cost of an M1 Abrams, it's what you buy if you're not thinking of fighting against the US.
No Hitler didn’t think so. The T-34 was originally a design by America designer Walter Christie who wanted to sell it to the US Army but they didn’t buy and it the Russkies did. It certainly was a good tank, the first to use sloping frontal armor, a lower track base and wider-width tracks. Nice speedy little tank until it met the Panther Mk.5 and later the Tiger Mk.6 and then the Russkies had to catch up with the JS-2. We didn’t fare any better either. The Sherman was also a piece of junk. Read Capt. Belton Coopers book on the subject, “Death Traps’’. Believe me I’ve had the honor of knowing many WW2 veterans who had to go up against the Panthers and Tigers with their high velocity 75ms and 88’s and to this day those men still talk with a chilling mixture of fear and respect for those tanks, that gun and the over-all fighting ability of those German tankers. Hate to keep belaboring a point but I don’t think any American soldier or Marine tanker would want to fight in any Russian made tank. Do you think they would?