Outside of static defense or close formations, a combat veteran solder has always been worth far more than a green soldier. ("Green" = no combat experience.) No matter how well trained the green soldier might be.
[About the real war in Ukraine] Meanwhile, armored tanks and vehicles have mostly become an endangered species on the frontlines. Russia has lost more than 14,000 tanks and armored vehicles of other types during the war, according to the Dutch open source intelligence tracking project Oryx, which only counted visually verified losses. Ukraine has lost over 6,000 armored combat vehicles.
Before concluding "Tank Is Dead", consider WWII - when vastly more tanks, armored cars, etc. were lost - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equipment_losses_in_World_War_... Yet every major power emerged believing both that tanks had grown even more critical, and that they needed to develop and deploy yet-better models of tanks ASAP.
I’m not convinced on ships yet. The strategic failure in Iran has overshadowed the tactical successes, including the fact that US ships have handled everything Iran has thrown at them. That could change, but right now, drones have yet to prove their effectiveness against warships which are prepared against them.
Drones (sea drones) have proven their effectiveness against Russian ships.
But cheap drones are not the only modern threat that ships face.
An effective defense again hypersonic missiles has yet to be deployed as far as anyone knows. Creating one will likely involve a directed energy weapon of some sort. Rocket interceptors are simply too slow and lack the required maneuverability.
Until then, large slow moving ships are sitting ducks against a capable adversary.
Comments
Outside of static defense or close formations, a combat veteran solder has always been worth far more than a green soldier. ("Green" = no combat experience.) No matter how well trained the green soldier might be.
Before concluding "Tank Is Dead", consider WWII - when vastly more tanks, armored cars, etc. were lost - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equipment_losses_in_World_War_... Yet every major power emerged believing both that tanks had grown even more critical, and that they needed to develop and deploy yet-better models of tanks ASAP.
“The War in Ukraine is where drones (UAV) becomes an integral part of modern warfare.
Training pilots takes time and is expensive. Modern jets are also expensive.
After Ukraine, every country is going to build a UAV Air Force.”
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31842578
Anything slow and heavy is now mainly just a target.
This includes tanks and ships and bombers --- more a liability than an asset.
I’m not convinced on ships yet. The strategic failure in Iran has overshadowed the tactical successes, including the fact that US ships have handled everything Iran has thrown at them. That could change, but right now, drones have yet to prove their effectiveness against warships which are prepared against them.
Drones (sea drones) have proven their effectiveness against Russian ships.
But cheap drones are not the only modern threat that ships face.
An effective defense again hypersonic missiles has yet to be deployed as far as anyone knows. Creating one will likely involve a directed energy weapon of some sort. Rocket interceptors are simply too slow and lack the required maneuverability.
Until then, large slow moving ships are sitting ducks against a capable adversary.