The United States learned from the war in Ukraine that the tanks will no longer be able to charge in the fight as they did because it is vulnerable to enemy attacks with cheap drones, said the new army secretary.
“You cannot move without being seen,” said army secretary Daniel Driscll about the battlefield in Ukraine during an episode of the Podcast War on the Rocks which was broadcast on Tuesday.
“The quantity of sensors on the battlefield, the quantity of capacity on both sides to see what is happening” has created a situation in which army commanders cannot push the tanks “as far in the training as you could do because very cheap drones are able to withdraw them from all use,” he said.
“We have to be much thinner,” said the secretary. “We have to work to hide the air.” His remarks echo the concerns of other army leaders, who have warned that unixed systems are still looking at the battlefield.
The tanks made a serious blow in the Ukrainian conflict. Oryx, an open source intelligence site which visually follows the losses of military equipment, says that Moscow has lost at least 3,900 tanks; Kyiv lost more than 1,100. A majority of them were destroyed in combat, while some were damaged, abandoned or captured.
Russia and Ukraine lost thousands of tanks during the conflict. Alexander Eroshenko / Reuters
Drones are a major threat to tanks in Ukraine. The commander of an M1 of American Abrams in service with the kyiv army told Business Insider that Russian FPV drones are specifically dangerous. He said that the tank is based on additional protective armor and electronic war capacities to stay safe. However, there have been losses.
Heavy losses have led to evaluations that tanks can be obsolete in wars dominated by drones. However, Driscoll recently told Bi that the role of American tanks will change rather than disappear. Instead of combined arms attacks by Armor, where tanks are the first to hit the front lines and to be lead violation operations, unrelated systems can rather direct the load.
Driscoll said the tanks will remain safe and defended until there is a clear path that allows them to move forward. This is a break in the traditional role of tanks, but it is seen by military planners that necessary in a world where armored vehicles worth millions can be easily collected by drones of value as little as a few hundred dollars.
The use of cheap drones to destroy expensive armored vehicles has proven to be an effective asymmetrical war tactic. American forces appreciated air superiority in recent conflicts, without the need to constantly seek enemy air power. This changes with drones.
American soldiers training on tanks and other armored vehicles learn that they must be aware of their environment. This includes the search for possible incoming threats.
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