Originally Posted by
falcon900
At the risk of thinking the unthinkable, is it possible that the days of the tank are numbered?
surely one of the learnings from the conflict is that they are vulnerable to man-portable weapons and drones?
I guess it's a bit yes and no at the same time. With shoulder fired ATGM you can defend very well against attacking tanks. But you can't Counter- attack. That is why Ukraine now need tanks despite having the best ATGM at their disposal. To advance in the opposite direction. Drones like the Bayraktar can only operate if the tank force doesn't have suitable Surface2Air capabilites or fighter cover. Against a well eqipped opponent who knows what he is doing the Bayraktar and similar slow unstealthy drones are close to worthless. A tank being part of a modern, well equipped and trained combined arms force will probably remain relevant. A tank all on its own not. Therefore don't extrapolate the (mediocre to put it mildly) performance of the Russian Forces (especially at the beginning) to every other Army.