Quote:
Originally Posted by Kavvy
To Captain - why do nation invest in tanks? I would of thought air superiority would out weigh tank needs?
I am sure I am missing something obvious here.
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You can't hold ground with air power, and you can't be sure that you've cleared an area with air power.
That's why you need forces on the ground.
With tanks they are the fastest and most efficient way to project ground power in combination with infantry.
You really are suppossed to use air power in conjunction with ground power, the Russians know this and they're the masters of combined arms throwing the kitchen sink approach to warfare a lesson that they were harshly taught by the Germans.
You really have four bubbles on the battlefield.
Infantry has a very small bubble, but it can effectively hold ground.
Armored fighting vehicles have a bigger bubble and because of their speed are incredibly good at intelligence gathering, Canada heavily invested in recce vehicles that can spot enemies and bring weapons to bear.
Tanks have a massive bubble, they can reach out and touch something a long ways away, and bring a lot of fire power to bear.
Artillary is a enormous bubble and can put fire power on one spot
Air power is like artillary.
So a couple of things.
In Afghanistan, Canada was very effective with the tanks that they used because their main gun could penatrate the thick walls that seemed to be prevalent in terms of ambushes that the Taliban put up, they would intentionally hide in these houses and storage bins that had thick stone and clay walls and they were safe from small arms fire or fire from out LAV III's, but the tanks could basically take them apart.
Tanks also turned out to be better at crew protection against IED's and ambushes then wheeled vehicles were, modern battle tanks are fairly invulnerable against weapons like the RPG-7s that are commonly used by insurgent forces, so the Tanks could shelter infantry, and fire back with what I would class as overwhelming firepower.
Airpower really works well against stationary targets btw, against logistic centers and bridges and key communication centers etc.
Tanks really work well when your facing a mobile force that you want to push out of the area and because of their speed and guns can be a great asset in holding areas and providing over support.
Tanks in conjunction with infantry, helicopters, AFV, artillary and aircraft is a perfect solution.