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Subject:
Death of the Tank
Max
8/31/2002 11:35:53 AM
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| While quite a bit has been written on the upcoming demise of tanks I still don't see it happening anytime in the near future. Yes there are a great number of proven weapons that can "take out" a tank most of those weapons are not usable by infantry. I don't think any grunt is capable of packing a TOW or Hellfire missle. Other man portable anti-tank weapons are simply too light. As much as Hollywood and the third world loves the RPG it normaly takes 4 or 5 shots to achieve a mobility kill on an old and obsolete tank. A single shot on a modern tank is probably going to burn a little paint and irratate the crew. Even the new Javlin missle doesn't inspire much confidance in me since the only live fire tests I've seen were against a lone fully loaded non-moving tank sitting in the middle of an open field on a bright clear day. Not exactly a true combat test. They should've just painted it to look like a sitting duck.
What most people don't understant is that a shaped charge on anti-armor weapons doesn't actually blow a tank up, it can only pop a small hole in the armor in hopes that there is still enough energy to set off the stored fuel, ammo and hydraulic fluid inside. If the shaped charge can't penetrate the armor and set off the chain reaction inside then all hopes lie on killing an exposed crewman whose head is sticking out of a hatch.
The tank on the other hand can capture terrain like the infantryman and can provide incredible amounts of firepower. The Original M1 holds over 10,000 rounds of 7.62 ammo and 1,000 rounds of .50 cal and 62 105mm cannon rounds. That's more firepower than in an infantry company and it has significantly more battlefield mobility.
Of course it's not invulnerable but it is a huge forcemultiplier that can make the infantry's job much easier by being a huge bullet sponge. While everybody is shooting the tank the infantry can get in close and kill the enemy. Without the tank the grunts are taking all of those shots.
The modern battlefield is still in need of the tank and it won't dissapear anytime soon, sorry General Shinseki. |
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