![]() Large unprotected columns, he noted, made it easy for the Ukrainians to take out first and the last tank, causing mayhem. “Russian armour, most of which were the older and less protected T-72s moved into Ukraine without any kind of air support or any kind of real air defence weapons,” a military official noted.įormer Western Army commander Lieutenant-General KJ Singh, a retired Armoured Corps officer, found Russian tactics wanting. However, several also blamed the debacle of Russian armour in Ukraine on poor planning and operational tactics. Loitering munitions-capable of remaining airborne until targets appear-and drones do pose new kinds of challenges to tanks, sources in the Indian defence and security establishment told ThePrint. As former armoured-corps officer Major-General Jagatbir Singh noted in 2020, “the end of the tank was also predicted in the 1950s when the threat was from ATGM’s”, or anti-tank guided missiles.Īlso read: China’s threat won’t wait for India to get better technology. To many other experts, though, arguments claiming that the tank is dead are wearyingly familiar. He had noted that the last large tank battle, one where large armoured formations of two armies manoeuvred against each other supported by artillery and air forces, took place in 1973, during the Arab-Israel war on the Golan Heights. Naravane had said that “military icons of the 20th century”, like tanks and fighter aircraft were on their way out the same way the Sony Walkman was made redundant by newer technologies to hear music. In March 2020, former Army chief General M.M. The Army’s requirements state that the FRCVs should be able to defeat not just enemy tanks and armoured vehicles, but also unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and capable of destroying or deterring attack helicopters. The FRCV will thus be equipped with multiple kinds of anti-aircraft weapons, and also possess remotely controlled weapon stations.įor some, this programme is reminiscent of Major-General John Herr, the last US Army chief of cavalry, who insisted on the importance of the horse on the battlefield even after the Nazi armoured blitzkrieg, using tanks and fighters, against Poland and France. Light tanks are also being sought to defend the Line of Actual Control. ![]() Early this year, the Army ordered 118 more Arjuns, and has plans to next procure over 1,700 Future Ready Combat Vehicles, or FRCVs-the next generation of tanks. The third, the Arjun Main Battle Tank, or MBT, is indigenously designed and produced. Two, the T-90 and T-72, are of Russian origin. India operates around 3,500 tanks of three different types. So, is the future of tanks dead? Have tanks lost their relevance? Does investing in tanks make sense for India?Īlso read: Fate of Russian armour in Ukraine not encouraging but premature to write off the tankĮven though India fought its last major tank battle in 1965-the famous battle of Asal Uttar-the armour continues to have a key place in operational plans. The United States Marines have ditched tanks their Army still swears by their Abrams. Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom and Poland are among the countries where this intense debate is on. In militaries across the world, though, there is intense debate on what the war in Ukraine means for the future of armour. Traditional war-fighting weapons like tanks and artillery were, therefore, still relevant. Tanks suffered heavy losses, too, in the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan war.Įarlier this month, soon after taking office as chief of the Indian Army, General Manoj Pande told a small group of journalists that the real lessons from Ukraine was that conventional wars were still possible, and that future conflicts wouldn’t be short. Turkish and Israeli drones have also been used against Russian armour with lethal effect. Few haven’t seen videos of $30,000 man-portable missiles blowing the turrets off $1.25 million T-72 tank. But the war in Ukraine has dealt its reputation as the king of the battlefield some devastating blows. In the century since, the tank has been the spearhead of countless successful military battles. “They sat, squat monstrous things, noses stuck up in the air, crushing the sides of our trench out of shape.” The tank-hulking 30-ton monsters, two cannons mounted on its sides, capable of just three miles an hour-had just made its first appearance, on the blood-soaked World War I battlefield of the Somme, in 1916. New Delhi: “Lumbering slowly towards us came three huge mechanical monsters such as we had never seen before,” nineteen-year-old signals officer Bret Chaney recorded.
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