Battle Tanks Are Always Outmoded But Never Obsolete
Field armor has limitations that have long frustrated military thinkers, and Russia’s failures in Ukraine have revived the idea that its days are numbered. But it just won’t go away.
They can’t get no respect.
Photographer: Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty ImagesAre tanks obsolete? That’s a question that military analysts have been asking since they first appeared on the battlefield over a century ago, most recently as the war in Ukraine drags into its second month.
As Russia prepared for its Feb. 24 invasion, conventional wisdom held that its armored forces and superior air power would lead a swift victory. Instead, the world has been treated to scenes of tanks burning on the sides of roads, their turrets blown off and their crews immolated. Hundreds of armored vehicles have met this fate courtesy of a new generation of portable antitank missiles called Javelins, NLAWs and Stugnas.