• BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Seems odd that anyone is investing much in tanks these days. Ukraine has shown tanks to be of very little utility on the modern battlefield.

    • RidderSport@feddit.org
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      3 days ago

      The obsolescence of tanks has been called for in every conflict since WW1 and yet has never been true

      • Mihies@programming.dev
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        3 days ago

        Assuming one has plenty of drones and anti tank weapons, what good for are tanks? Also taking their price into the account. That video is dated pre-special operation.

        • einkorn@feddit.org
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          3 days ago

          That video is dated pre-special operation.

          It isn’t. It’s a direct response to two months of people screaming “Tanks are dead” after the invasion started in Feb. 2022.

          Assuming one has plenty of drones and anti tank weapons, what good for are tanks?

          Watch the video.

          Also taking their price into the account.

          Watch this video.

          Edit: Forgot to add two more recent videos that deal with tanks and drone warfare:

          • Mihies@programming.dev
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            3 days ago

            After few months of invasion, there were only few Bayraktars around. Drone warfare happened later. Also Ukraine got decent anti-tank weapons later and those were really effective in blowing turrets off for cheap. As drones are. And mines which are now deployed remotely.

          • BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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            3 days ago

            Yeah I’m not buying this. There’s a reason you rarely hear about the Ukrainians using tanks, and almost never for the Russians (because they’re all been blown up). When you have people making “turtle” and “porcupine” tanks I think it’s fair to say they’ve lost almost all utility.

            His argument is essentially “you cannot take and hold ground like a tank can”. Which frankly is nonsense to anyone paying attention to the Ukrainian war. No one is using tanks to hold ground. They’re only being used for very quick hit and run operations because it only takes $3000 in drones to take them out. Fiber optic drones are simply too cheap and effective.

    • Skua@kbin.earth
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      3 days ago

      Ukraine and Russia wouldn’t both still be using every tank they can get their hands on if they weren’t useful. There’s also the very real possibility that someone figures out a reliable countermeasure to drones in the near future. Several countries have already deployed truck-mounted lasers that just need a decent power source to torch incoming drones for basically free, for example

      • BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        Russia is using motorcycles and donkeys. As someone who’s been watching this war far too closely, it’s very rare to hear about Russians using tanks. Because they all got blown up with drones.

        • Skua@kbin.earth
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          3 days ago

          According to Oryx, we’ve got visual confirmation of 25 tanks and 59 more armoured vehicles lost by Russia in July alone. The tanks are getting pretty shitty and old, yes, but they’re definitely still out there because they are still getting blown up