Originally Posted by
Asturias56
"If the tank is obsolete, so to is the APC presumably."
Doubt it - the PBI will still need transporting about faster than they can walk and an APC is some protection against snipers, other infantry and (distant) shell explosions - they're buses not fighting vehicles at the the end of the day - and of course a LOT cheaper.............
Have you looked at the cost of the current generation of APCs? They match the cost of an MBT , thanks to the doctrine that the APC must carry at least a 40mm stabilized gun to fulfill its battle taxi role.
It does seem that all this gear is pricing itself out of the market, too expensive to buy, too complex to learn and too fragile to use.