Posted on 10/18/2020 12:19:48 PM PDT by RomanSoldier19
In eastern Ladakh, India and China have deployed a considerable number of tanks in the standoff at the LAC. The heavy T-72 and T-90 tanks of India are facing the Type 15 light Chinese tanks. Both sides claim superiority. These points of view miss the larger picture, that the main threat to a tank today is not from another tank, but from the air. This is particularly true in the open, barren LAC.
The fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan has occupied little attention in the Indian media, but it is proving to be of great interest to the military community. As the war erupted over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, both sides put out video footage showing tanks being destroyed by drones and precision artillery strikes.
The Azerbaijan military has deployed an array of drones, both for surveillance and attack. The latter, also known as kamikaze drones, loiter over the battlefield, acquire targets like tanks and crash into them. On display were both Israeli and Turkish drones that have been obtained in large numbers by Baku over the past few years.
Both sides have claimed that hundreds of tanks, along with air defence launchers, artillery guns and other military equipment have been destroyed in the fighting. While it is difficult to assess the losses accurately, there is no doubt that drones have played a large role. The Armenian defence ministry statement that it has shot down 107 enemy drones indicates the extensive use of drones in the fighting.
Azerbaijani loitering munition strike on Armenian S-300 36D6
Link strike on Armenian S-300 36D6
Link Armenia Tank - Loiter Muntion Destruction Link
Suicide Drones, Kamakazi Drones & Loitering Munitions - New War in Nagorno-Karabakh - News Today
(Excerpt) Read more at tribuneindia.com ...
“The US built a nuclear powered tank decades ago.”
What could possibly go wrong?
If it can be seen, it can be destroyed
These modern loitering drones are scary as hell. Diving, swerving, hanging back, and waiting for an opportunity to strike, just like a predator bird. They don't just fly in straight from a launch site, tough to knock out. Scary stuff.
Per descriptions of loitering drones:
"An autonomous loitering munition may be launched at an area where enemy activity is only probable, and loiter searching autonomously for targets for potentially hours following the initial launch decision, though it may be able to request final authorization for an attack from a human."
Man out of the loop machines, scary. Some can return to base if they haven't attacked the target, as long as they have fuel.
this would allow them to remain airborne while recharging, instead of having to land.
https://newatlas.com/wireless-power-drones/46030/
The drone has to be within four inches of the power source.
They developed a nuclear powered tank in the 1950s.
What else has been developed since then?
Drones have to use their energy to keep from crashing.
They wont be able to carry enough energy to use it for a weapon.
No loiter time. They are destroyed without power. They wont be able to carry enough firepower to do much good unless they are huge and then become easy targets.
Tank/Antitank technology is a game of leapfrog.
They may be able to take out older tanks but its going to be hard to stop an armored, mobile vehicle with modern sensors, weapons and computing power.
A little paINT ON THE Lens of a targeting scope and...
Military leadership is almost always fighting with the mindset of the last war. Iraq taught us the heavy armor was good sometimes and Afcrapistan taught us that force protection and air power were key there. We need to stay flexible - armed drones and smart systems are the next challenge.
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