As such the war in Ukraine has proved that many preconceptions regarding main battle tanks entering the dustbin of history are far from a reality.
Thus while they continue to be the heavyweights on the modern battlefield, Russia’s two new high-tech tanks, the T-14 Armata and the T-90M have both fared rather poorly over the past year, casting a cloud of uncertainty over both their effectiveness and future.
One of the world’s most modern tanks, the T-14 Armata, has had mechanical and technological problems since its design started more than ten years ago.
This three-man, 55-ton tank has a 125 mm main cannon and an automatic loading system.
But only a few such machines have been made available to the Russian armed forces, and those deployed in Ukraine have not impressed.
Russia’s defense officials claim the T-14 was used experimentally in Ukraine to prove its features fit modern operational realities, but Western intelligence disputes this: the tanks were kept away from the hot cauldron of direct combat so as not to expose vulnerabilities, perhaps.
Another piece of Russia’s weapon arsenal is the T-90M, considered to be Russia’s most advanced main battle tank.
Like all others, this one too failed to make more impact in Ukraine. Even with its modern features in being the most explosive reactive armor and most advanced fire control systems, the T-90M is not hard on Ukrainian anti-tank weapons, even with some older variants.
It also reduced its reverse speed, which made it vulnerable to more danger in a fight. Ukrainian forces have managed to destroy T-90Ms using M2 Bradleys, which thereby justifies the overall poor performance of the tank in this current war.
An astonishing number of tanks are being shredded and incinerated in the Ukraine war.
On both sides, Russia and Ukraine, are the major victims. Reports have indicated that Russia lost more than 2,900 tanks while Ukraine lost 796 main battle tanks, which include American-made M1 Abrams and German Leopard tanks.
While the loss in battles was not limited to cheap but disposable weapons like next-generation light anti-tank weapons and drones, that factor largely played a role in these losses.
The Ukrainians used motorcycles, buggies, and even unarmored trucks to hit the Russian tanks, but the low-cost drone, with explosives on board, was able to destroy the best-armored tanks.
Russia has also been working on countermeasures to both of these threats. The M1A1 Abrams tanks that the U.S. supplied were fitted with new anti-drone armor screens and additional explosive reactive armor modifications, Ukraine reported. Russia has been engaged in an updates program for its T-72 tanks, with new types of armor, including even improvised roofs of metal covered with metal grills, but its updates yield dubious results.
However, all these problems haven’t made tanks less important a part of the battlefield. Intensive fighting between technically evenly matched states as a whole can hardly be imagined without tanks considering their firepower, mobility, survivability, endurance, and cost-effectiveness.