Helps fight artillery, supports infantry, hits stationary targetsThe special operation in Ukraine showed that the tank has not lost its relevance in the conflicts of the XXI century, although disputes about its role and place in the army have not subsided since its appearance on the fields of the First World War.
In the interwar period, the discussion about the role of tanks was conducted as to which of them — infantry escort tanks, cruiser tanks, breakthrough tanks, tankettes — were most preferable and in what proportion. We tried to determine the optimal tactical and operational-tactical structure for their application. After the Second World War, in which the tank became an integral element of any major operation, clouds began to gather over its future.
In the form of a pancake
This was primarily due to a sharp increase in the capabilities of aviation, as well as the saturation of infantry with light anti-tank weapons, and then specialized anti-tank complexes. The latter at some point overtook the protection of armored vehicles, making it very vulnerable.
The designers again had to go to increase security by increasing the mass, to look for the most optimal forms of booking — the most striking representative was the Soviet experimental "object 279", whose body had the shape of a pancake and four tracks. And also switch to combined armor, and then to passive and active dynamic protection.
Museum exhibit "Object 279"
Image source: iz.ru
The "side" branches were attempts to create a lightly armored and, due to this, a more maneuverable tank — a vivid example of the AMX-13 and, to a lesser extent, the Leopard 1, but they turned out to be a dead end. Moreover, all this happened against the background of the improvement of anti-tank weapons, which received a tandem warhead, autonomous guidance and the ability to hit the roof of the tank.
As a result, despite the development of tanks of the third and fourth post-war generations, talk about the death of these machines on the battlefield did not subside, but it was unrealistic to check the theoretical calculations of both supporters and opponents of this approach.
On the one hand, tanks were massively used during the Arab-Israeli conflicts, the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, during Operation Desert Storm, during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, in Syria 2011-2022, the conflict in Tigray.
Naturally, the use of tanks took place in other conflicts, but in general, we can say that in most recent wars tanks were used by opponents with different potential, and on the battlefield, as a rule, tanks of different generations collided.
Azerbaijani T-55 tanks in Nagorno-Karabakh, November 2020
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Kudenko
ITS members
The situation has changed dramatically with the beginning of a special military operation. Although tanks have been actively used since 2014 during the Ukrainian crisis and often became the main striking element of the parties, but the really massive use of tanks of approximately the same level by both sides began in 2022.
The T-62, T-64, T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks of various modifications were used as part of the units of the Russian Army and Donbass, the T-64, T-72, T-80, Oplot and T-55 were also part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The reliable number of tank groups of both sides on February 24 is unknown, but it is obvious that it significantly exceeded 1 thousand units for each army, most likely it was at least 1.5–2 thousand units.
After almost a year of fighting, it can already be argued that the tank has in no way lost its role in the conflict of the XXI century, even despite the emergence of a new threat in the face of unmanned aerial vehicles. Let's note the most important points related to their application in ITS.
A serviceman of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on a T-72 tank during the fighting in the LPR
Image Source: Photo: TASS/Stanislav Krasilnikov
To help the infantry
The tank, as before, acts as the main means of direct infantry support, both in the field and during battles in the city. According to a number of Western experts, such an approach did not allow the tank to fully reveal its potential to break through enemy defenses while achieving decisive goals.
On the other hand, the known data on the consumption of ammunition for each tank and the results of their use show that the function of the infantry tank in the main combat vehicles has not gone anywhere. Moreover, in addition to purely military, they also perform an important psychological function, giving confidence to the actions of their infantry and intimidating the enemy.
Photo: TASS/Stanislav Krasilnikov
Image source: iz.ru
The tank also continued to function as an anti-tank vehicle. In some cases, it is difficult to assess what exactly this or that armored vehicle was hit with, but several cases of tank duels are known — both in 2014-2015 and in 2022. Apparently, their small number is explained precisely by the fact that tanks were rarely used massively, which statistically reduced the likelihood of their direct collision on the battlefield.
A new task of the tank, which is increasingly being solved in the course of its own, has become their use for hitting stationary targets. There is shooting from closed positions. In the conditions of improving artillery and, most importantly, the means of counter-battery warfare, the tank has become a pretty good palliative of self-propelled and towed artillery due to its high security, dramatically increasing its survival rate under enemy return fire and with the active use of copters armed with grenades. Do not forget about the mobility and patency of cars, which allow you to quickly change position and get out of the return fire.
There are not many tanks
Finally, the most important lesson of its was the conclusion that "there are not many tanks." Both sides are actively trying to keep the number of tank fleets at an acceptable level, achieving this in different ways.
If the APU relies solely on the supply of new tanks from abroad, then Russia is actively increasing the production of tanks at Uralvagonzavod Scientific and Production Corporation JSC. In recent years, it has mainly produced large batches for export, limiting itself to actually piece-by-piece deliveries of new tanks for the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the active modernization of the T—72B tank fleet into the T-72B3 variant (and from 2022 - and T-72B3M) from combat units and storage bases.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Pavel Lisitsyn
Image source: iz.ru
Since 2022, the situation has changed dramatically, and the company has dramatically increased the production of the most modern Russian serial tanks — the T-90M, which are immediately transferred to the troops.
Along with the T-72, the existing T-80BV tanks are also being actively upgraded, which are being transformed into a variant of the T-80BVM through improvements.
The need for tanks led to the fact that the T-62M tanks also received a second wind, which turned out to be quite appropriate for the tasks set in the conditions of a sharp reduction in the number of the Ukrainian tank fleet. Their use in secondary areas allows the release of more modern machines for use in threatened areas.
On the Ukrainian side, the shortage of T-72 family tanks in NATO countries and the continuing need led to the fact that deliveries of Slovenian T-55S and negotiations on obtaining Leopard 1 began, which have not met modern tank requirements for a long time.
SVO again showed that the tank has not lost all its advantages on the battlefield, even when using the most modern anti-tank weapons against it. Its survivability and firepower turned out to be quite adequate for this theater of operations, and without tanks, the advance of infantry would be very difficult, if not impossible.
Assembly of the T-72BZ tank at Uralvagonzavod
Image Source: Photo: TASS/Donat Sorokin
At the same time, the active use of tanks puts on the agenda the need to significantly increase the capacity for their production, maintenance and repair, as well as equip them with built-in means of countering UAVs or at least commercial copters.
It is possible that the issue of increasing the power of tank guns by increasing their caliber will be raised again, so that the tank can more effectively hit protected ground targets.
As practice shows, under the condition of proper use, protection of tanks by infantry and army air defense systems, giving tank units a group of sappers, they become a difficult target to hit and can solve all the tasks. Thus, the tank once again confirmed that it was premature to write it off.
Andrey Frolov
