pmaitra
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Don't write off the tank - drones can't do everything
Armoured vehicles are going out of fashion - witness the loss of the Desert Rats' tanks - but they are still very effective weapons of war
In this age of the drone, when the enemy can be engaged by the click of a mouse from an air-conditioned bunker thousands of miles away, it is hardly surprising that the obituaries are being readied for the battlefield tank.
Rather than having to rely on an ironclad behemoth to drive the foe from his entrenched position, today's commanders find that it is far easier – and far less risky – to launch a Hellfire missile to achieve the same objective.
The last time Britain used its formidable array of battle tanks in anger was 10 years ago, when around 120 63-ton Challenger 2s took part in the invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Having achieved their goal of securing and holding Basra, Iraq's second largest city, they were soon removed from front-line operations and returned to their bases in Germany and the Salisbury Plain, where the majority were mothballed, as it soon became clear Whitehall had no appetite for similar military adventures.
The Coalition's dislike for conventional weaponry was confirmed by the 40 per cent reduction in the number of tanks it ordered as part of the controversial Strategic Defence and Security Review. It was a direct result of these cuts that the Ministry of Defence this week announced that tank units, such as the legendary Desert Rats, or 7th Armoured Brigade to give it its formal title, will be stripped of their heavy armour role.
Having made good use of tanks to defeat Rommel in North Africa during the Second World War, and more recently during the liberation of Kuwait in the first Gulf war in 1991, the current generation of Desert Rats will find themselves confined to infantry duties when they are deployed to Afghanistan this year.
While senior officers insist that, with more than 170 battle tanks still at their disposal, they retain the ability to deploy the same level of firepower used during both Gulf wars, it seems increasingly as though the glory days of tank warfare are over.
Modern tanks certainly do not engender the terror they inspired when the first British Mark 1 models appeared on the battlefield during the Somme offensive in mid-September 1916. The 36 prototypes, fitted with machine guns or six-pounder cannon, terrified the German infantry to the extent that the British made one of their few dramatic advances of the war, before it was brought to an abrupt halt when the majority of the armoured monsters conked out, or got stuck in the mud.
But the tank had made an impressive impact, and by the end of the First World War nearly 10,000 had been manufactured, since both sides in the conflict hoped the fearsome new weapon might give them the decisive advantage. It was during the Second World War, though, that the tank came into its own, dominating the landscape of battle. A quarter of a million were used in the conflict, though British tanks were often at a disadvantage when pitted against the faster and better protected German Panthers and Tigers. They were also vulnerable to well-directed anti-tank weapons. During the Siege of Tobruk, the Desert Rats lost 113 of their 141 vehicles.
The military obsession with tanks continued well into the Cold War, and at its height Nato commanders had an estimated 30,000 at their disposal. Britain's contribution amounted to some 2,000 tanks which, though they never saw action, made a vital contribution to the technology. The 51-ton Centurion, Britain's first post-war tank, was used to great effect by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1970. Meanwhile, its successor, the 55-ton Chieftain, featured prominently during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, with the Iranians making good use of British tanks bought during the Shah's reign.
While the end of the Cold War prompted many experts to predict the tank's demise, it has refused to bow out gracefully. Russian T-72s spearheaded Moscow's invasion of Georgia in 2008, while Israel regularly deploys Merkavars – loosely based on the Chieftain – during incursions into Gaza and Lebanon.
In our casualty-averse age, the tank is far from an ideal weapon, especially in densely populated areas, where attack helicopters and drones are more effective in targeting the enemy. Even so, there are circumstances – such as if military action were required to remove another rogue dictator – where the armoured, tracked fighting vehicle could be vital. In which case, to paraphrase Mark Twain, we might find reports the tank has no further role to play on the battlefield to have been greatly exaggerated.
Source: Don't write off the tank - drones can't do everything - Telegraph
Armoured vehicles are going out of fashion - witness the loss of the Desert Rats' tanks - but they are still very effective weapons of war
In this age of the drone, when the enemy can be engaged by the click of a mouse from an air-conditioned bunker thousands of miles away, it is hardly surprising that the obituaries are being readied for the battlefield tank.
Rather than having to rely on an ironclad behemoth to drive the foe from his entrenched position, today's commanders find that it is far easier – and far less risky – to launch a Hellfire missile to achieve the same objective.
The last time Britain used its formidable array of battle tanks in anger was 10 years ago, when around 120 63-ton Challenger 2s took part in the invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Having achieved their goal of securing and holding Basra, Iraq's second largest city, they were soon removed from front-line operations and returned to their bases in Germany and the Salisbury Plain, where the majority were mothballed, as it soon became clear Whitehall had no appetite for similar military adventures.
The Coalition's dislike for conventional weaponry was confirmed by the 40 per cent reduction in the number of tanks it ordered as part of the controversial Strategic Defence and Security Review. It was a direct result of these cuts that the Ministry of Defence this week announced that tank units, such as the legendary Desert Rats, or 7th Armoured Brigade to give it its formal title, will be stripped of their heavy armour role.
Having made good use of tanks to defeat Rommel in North Africa during the Second World War, and more recently during the liberation of Kuwait in the first Gulf war in 1991, the current generation of Desert Rats will find themselves confined to infantry duties when they are deployed to Afghanistan this year.
While senior officers insist that, with more than 170 battle tanks still at their disposal, they retain the ability to deploy the same level of firepower used during both Gulf wars, it seems increasingly as though the glory days of tank warfare are over.
Modern tanks certainly do not engender the terror they inspired when the first British Mark 1 models appeared on the battlefield during the Somme offensive in mid-September 1916. The 36 prototypes, fitted with machine guns or six-pounder cannon, terrified the German infantry to the extent that the British made one of their few dramatic advances of the war, before it was brought to an abrupt halt when the majority of the armoured monsters conked out, or got stuck in the mud.
But the tank had made an impressive impact, and by the end of the First World War nearly 10,000 had been manufactured, since both sides in the conflict hoped the fearsome new weapon might give them the decisive advantage. It was during the Second World War, though, that the tank came into its own, dominating the landscape of battle. A quarter of a million were used in the conflict, though British tanks were often at a disadvantage when pitted against the faster and better protected German Panthers and Tigers. They were also vulnerable to well-directed anti-tank weapons. During the Siege of Tobruk, the Desert Rats lost 113 of their 141 vehicles.
The military obsession with tanks continued well into the Cold War, and at its height Nato commanders had an estimated 30,000 at their disposal. Britain's contribution amounted to some 2,000 tanks which, though they never saw action, made a vital contribution to the technology. The 51-ton Centurion, Britain's first post-war tank, was used to great effect by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1970. Meanwhile, its successor, the 55-ton Chieftain, featured prominently during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, with the Iranians making good use of British tanks bought during the Shah's reign.
While the end of the Cold War prompted many experts to predict the tank's demise, it has refused to bow out gracefully. Russian T-72s spearheaded Moscow's invasion of Georgia in 2008, while Israel regularly deploys Merkavars – loosely based on the Chieftain – during incursions into Gaza and Lebanon.
In our casualty-averse age, the tank is far from an ideal weapon, especially in densely populated areas, where attack helicopters and drones are more effective in targeting the enemy. Even so, there are circumstances – such as if military action were required to remove another rogue dictator – where the armoured, tracked fighting vehicle could be vital. In which case, to paraphrase Mark Twain, we might find reports the tank has no further role to play on the battlefield to have been greatly exaggerated.
Source: Don't write off the tank - drones can't do everything - Telegraph
