Recommended reading:
by Colonel Gian P. Gentile
I consider this as an anecdote about a far more general trend.
There will be counter-forces that will reverse this trend on the basis of the 2006 Lebanon War (where the IDF discovered that its combined arms battle training was lacking due to its occupation with the Palestinians) and the 2008 South Ossetia War (where Russians won a classic land battle with armoured forces, but discovered training deficiencies as well).
The sooner the West gets out of OEF-A & ISAF, the sooner will the damage to our combined arms proficiency be repaired.
Sven Ortmann
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They've been predicting the end of the armored services since 1946, and the tanks are still here.
ReplyDeleteWhen nations stop buying them, which is to say when the bellwether nation -the US- stops buying them, I will believe this. Until such time as they stop, and this theoretical "no more" becomes a real one.
And we're doing is saying that a more urban world populations plus great disparity in First and Third World capacity will require fewer tank assaults: agreed.
But until such time as the US mothballs the M-1, or loses that incredibly expensive series of training centers and upgrades, I have to believe my eyes.
Sven, the only way the Armor Branch would die is if they stop making leaders in the mold of Guderian. Men who could mold and shape and guide armor doctrine for the coming years. I'm reading about General Stormy Weather right now. Fascinating man.
ReplyDeleteI didn't claim the "title".
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is solidly what I wrote - there's a counter-movement back to combined arms competence (including armour) to be expected.
James; this time it's different. It's not about an ATGM hype, but a focus on missions and countries that leave little use for tanks (in part because of their thirst and their unsuitability for running ten thousands of kilometres per year).
Sorry to derail the discussion but..
ReplyDeleteGiven that European airline flights have almost stopped, how is the weather? Is it warmer/colder than usual?
I wonder if the meteorological folks are enjoying 3 days of no airplane contrails to calibrate their weather models.
Nothing noteworthy here, not even an altered sunset.
ReplyDeleteThere are many interesting effects in the economy and additional research opportunities, of course.
Excellent.
ReplyDeleteWhen 9/11 happened, they cleared the skies of North America for a few days.
The weather was quite nice and unusually warm. A number of tweaks to climate models were proposed to model the effect of airplanes and high atmospheric clouds.
We now have a second data point.
I am very curious what will be revealed by analysis in a year or so.