When $3,000 drones can take out multi-million dollar tanks, it definitely changes the contours of warfare. From Patrick Drennan at realclearwire.com:
Lessons from the battlefields of Ukraine
Hundreds of expensive tanks of both sides are being destroyed on the battlegrounds of Ukraine by cheap UPV drones. These include the Russian T-90MS Tank (worth about $4.2million) and the German Leopard 2A6 Tank (about $6.3 million). They are being destroyed by ubiquitous Chinese UPV drones, and their local variants, that sell for about $3000. The U.S. has also supplied Ukraine with 155mm howitzer rounds known as Remote Anti-Armour Munitions (RAAM). Each shell scatters nine 2.3kg magnetically activated mines. Tanks with limited vision, especially Russian tanks, often hit these mines, damaging their tracks, and making them sitting targets. They are all then finished off by precision artillery and antitank guided missiles.
Several military experts have argued that tanks will always have a place because “lighter infantry organizations lack the combination of firepower and mobility to achieve early battlefield dominance and immediately exploit success.” They are likely correct. However, most of their previous examples they give are combined arms battles of the 20th Century. Equally, there is no doubt that against lightly armed foes like Hamas in Gaza, they can seize key objectives. However, Ukraine presents a different experience.
Primarily, the losses for both sides in Ukraine are extraordinary.
Moscow invaded Ukraine with an estimated fleet size of 3,417 main battle tanks, around three and a half times that of Ukraine. Russia lost roughly 60 percent, about 2,000 of these by mid-2023, The Moscow Times reported in July, citing the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker. They claim that Ukraine has lost the same number of tanks, but there is no source for that claim. GitHub – an American AI platform, estimates Russian tank losses have remained above 3:1 over Ukraine since the start of the war. Of course, that figure is relative, considering the Ukrainians had a smaller fleet to begin with.
Along with the aircraft carrier as we shall soon see.
Don’t forget the al Qassam Brigades with home brew RPG and rockets.
The spot where the turret goes into the hull is a weak point.
The Germans used to put armor skirts along the sides over the tracks and up on the turret of the warhorse Panzerkampfwagen IV upgraded with the 75mm gun.
These add weight and costs to the final product.
Panzerkampfwagen Funf and Sechs or Panther and Tiger were some of the best of WWII but cost too much to make and couldn’t operate in marshy or soft soil areas.
Allied T-34 (chassis designed by two Americans) and the Sherman didn’t cost as much and were mass produced while the Soviets moved all factories beyond the Ural mountains beyond the reach of Luftwaffe two engine bombers.
What happens when carriers start getting gunsmoked by hypersonic missiles?
Do our hypersonic missiles have the right pronouns and racial equality? (honk honk)
The heir to the carrier will be a submarine drone carrier.
Surface to launch drones. Hell the whole boat could
eventually be AI piloted and commanded.
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