The Tank Isn’t Dead but Must Adapt to New Threats: Army Secretary

The reservoir is not dead, said the American secretary to the army, Daniel Driscoll, Business Insider. They have a role in the army, but the way they are used in combat will have to change as threats evolve.

The strong destruction of tanned tanks and combat vehicles in Ukraine has led to speculation that the main battle reservoir is obsolete, that this weapon which played a role in countless conflicts since its emergence during the Second World War may no longer have a place on the battlefields which explode classical threats such as mines and the most recent such as anti-bands.

But the best civilian official of the army says it could be extinguished.

“Where people have started to predict the death of the reservoir, I think they are misunderstood what will probably happen,” said the former armor officer.

Driscoll, now two months after his work as an army secretary, was in Alaska last week to observe the soldiers trained in the army, members of the 11th Airborne Division for cold times in one of the harder Indo-Pacific environments.

While discussing with bi challenges of future war, including space and cyber actives and unrealized systems, Driscoll noted that the way the reservoir will change due to the threats it is confronted with.

In a potential future conflict, army tanks will not necessarily be the first assets to reach the front line, to direct violation operations. Soldiers may not see the type of assault of combined weapons led by armor they have seen in previous conflicts.

Instead, autonomous vehicles and other unrealized systems supported by other assets would be the first to engage. “The reservoir will be out of the reach of these drones, or at least in more defensible positions,” said Driscoll.

Once an open path, it can enter the fight, Provide the protected firepower it has long brought to the battlefield.

“Once you are able to unravel autonomous vehicles and robots and a cyber war and help with space assets,” said the army secretary, “you will probably start to see many of the most powerful weapons on the planet Earth, which is the M1A2 reservoir, you ride and continue to enter the fight.”

Driscoll’s comments speak for growing interest in American soldiers to use unrealized systems for the first contact. Drone operators and US military officials focused on drones and a means of reducing risks for human staff, whether in combat operations, recognition creation or threat assessment.

But above all, his remarks highlight the current concerns concerning the vulnerability of the drone reservoir, anti-tank weapons, mines and other threats, as well as operations without the type of air superiority which the United States appreciated in its wars in the Middle East and the need to adapt.

Throughout the war in Ukraine, combat images have repeatedly shown small quadcopters and other drones dropping bombs on battle tanks or stealing through open listening and exploding.

Cheap drones worth a few hundred dollars have taken expensive tanks worth millions, inaugurating a brand new era of asymmetrical war. The munitions of vagueness, another type of unrelated air system, were also devastating.

And it is not only reservoirs designed by Soviets that fell prey to drones and munitions that blur. Western tanks have also been lost, including abrams made in the United States.

The United States has provided Ukraine with 31 Abrams tanks, while other NATO nations have provided leopards and challengers. These tanks were a reduced utility. These are high -value targets, the tank battles on the tanque for which they were built do not occur frequently, and there is simply not enough.

Kyiv forces have obtained more armored combat vehicles like Bradley, even using one to beat a Russian T-90m. Ukraine has received much more, which makes the losses more acceptable. The crews always see value in their tanks.

In response to the threat of the drone, the two parties began to use countermeasures to defend the battle tanks against drones, such as the installation of metal cages on the turrets and around vulnerable areas. Abrams and Bradleys received these upgrades. Electronic war was also highly used.

Although the future role of the reservoir has been questioned, the specific values ​​that the weapon brings to combat continue to be recognized. That said, the reservoir and its tactics are probably a discussion in progress for the military.

In August 2023, more than a year after the war in Ukraine, officers and army experts wrote That the lethality, the survival and mobility of the reservoir of the reservoir in the context of combined arms operations, as well as the ability to place them on land all over the world, have enormous value.

The authors also noted the importance of teamwork to identify and counter weaknesses. “In the American army, the reservoir is not a solo artist. It is part of a set of organic capacities to the combat team of the armored brigade which complement the inherent qualities of the reservoir and attenuates its vulnerabilities,” they wrote.

“Such a team work,” they said, “says the continuous relevance of the reservoir despite the proliferation of unmanned aircraft systems, blur ammunition, precision artillery, anti-banque guided missiles and electromagnetic spectrum considerations.”

Electronic warfare, mobile air defenses and other capacities could be important to keep the tank in the fight. The authors of the report, entitled “The tank is dead … Long live the tank”, said that drones and other threats “require an adaptation rather than the pure and simple withdrawal of the battlefield” for the reservoir.

The United States and other high-level soldiers have also continued to invest in battle tank programs while prioritizing better protection and better handling of armor. Abramsx, a general design concept of dynamic terrestrial systems for a new generation Abrams reservoir, for example, was designed to be lighter, more agile and more survivable.

The American army also uses Ukraine lessons to training, strengthening its response to an increase in the proliferation of drones.

Army leaders have already told BI that it was important for soldiers to recognize the threat of systems not carried out on the battlefield, explaining that “you must seek, you must look at 360” degrees and increase the conscience of the situation to avoid being surprised by the battle.