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| Science & Technology |
| Russian tanks aren't obsolete. They're being used wrong |
| 2023-01-28 |
| [YouTube] Russian tanks have taken heavy losses in Ukraine. Countless images of decapitated turrets and burnt-out wrecks have made headlines around the world with some proclaiming the death of the tank altogether. They argue that the threat of artillery, drones, and man portable anti-tank missiles makes them extra vulnerable on the modern battlefield and an unsustainable risk to their crews. But is that really true? It turns out that, rather than the tank itself, Russia's tactics may be to blame for these losses. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #15 It is probably currently feasible to drive and shoot a drone tank remotely. I don’t think they have made headway on ammo loading. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-01-28 22:58 |
| #14 Swarms of robotic thingies *is* the future of combat, air and ground. The first ones will be semi-autonomous, with a human acting as 'platoon leader'. Later, they get better thanks to machine learning. It will be interesting to see how the Markers do. I understand that 4 are going to the Donbas in February for training. PS, I think we seen this movie |
| Posted by: SteveS 2023-01-28 22:18 |
| #13 Of course it will. Along with drones, satellites and spy squirrels |
| Posted by: Frank G 2023-01-28 21:43 |
| #12 " "Marker," a new robo-tank, will be able to 'destroy Western tanks, including American Abrams and German Leopards.' " |
| Posted by: Dale 2023-01-28 19:50 |
| #11 Better chance of survival with ballistic fire a ways behind the battle line. |
| Posted by: Nero 2023-01-28 18:10 |
| #10 Russians seem to be using their tanks as 'mobile artillery' only. So just another big gun. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2023-01-28 16:52 |
| #9 Embrace the power of 'and': Here's a thread with a statistical analysis of T-72 vs. T-62 'turret Olympics'. The older tank survives better: https://twitter.com/Wilkmans/status/1619043025078075393 |
| Posted by: Nero 2023-01-28 16:12 |
| #8 ^ Part of the problem is the battalion tactical group concept. The Russians gave it so many toys that it has enough combat power to get in trouble ...one time and one time only. |
| Posted by: magpie 2023-01-28 15:01 |
| #7 If they can't fight effectively on their own border, what do they have in a big distant fight besides nukes? Exactly. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2023-01-28 13:06 |
| #6 Part of the problem is the battalion tactical group concept. Good it theory, but how the Russians put it together is awful. Russia already is having a manpower shortage for the military and when they made these, they refused to reduce the amount of armored vehicles in them. So instead of having a crew of 3 and 7 infantry mounts, they have a crew of 3 and 3 (if at all) infantry mounts. You cannot secure the area around the BMP with just 3 infantry. This was a huge part of the breakdown of the combined arms we saw north of Kiev and the piss poor maneuver and performance of the armored forces. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2023-01-28 12:43 |
| #5 Because their doctrine and design favors massed frontal assaults and they discourage initiative by lower ranks. Used out of their "design envelope" they unfavorably showcase the trade-offs their designers baked into them. |
| Posted by: magpie 2023-01-28 12:20 |
| #4 Russia has always fought like this. They just throw it all out there and fight. People and equipment are considered expended once they move into the fight. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2023-01-28 12:14 |
| #3 Cause they'll fundamentally designed to suppress locals of authoritarian regimes not fight in major wars, thus their export viability? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2023-01-28 11:08 |
| #2 If they can't fight effectively on their own border, what do they have in a big distant fight besides nukes? |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-01-28 09:55 |
| #1 The Russians are aware of 'combined arms' tactics, the problem is they don't have enough infantry to fully employ these tactics. Adding to the problem is the Russian reluctance (for obvious reasons) to use Tactical Air resources in the fight. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2023-01-28 09:51 |