Relying on a 40 year old MBT in 2026 is like if the M4 sherman was the main tank of the US military well into the 80's but they pretended that was ok because they gave it some composite addon packages and an FCS refit.
Still the best tank in the world.
>>65517158wrong
>>65517149The M4's niche was arguably replaced by the Bradley more than it was the Patton series. And Abrams itself functioned best as a companion tank to the Patton like the previous 120mm tank model, and the Booker was a haphazard attempt of modernizing the partnership between a 120mm and a 105mm-armed platform.
How does the driver get out?
>>65517275crawls through the hull and turret to the same hatches the turret crew use
>>65517149The 40 year old Abrams still has a 79:1 K/D ratio. Upgraded Shermans were also still winning battles in the 80s.
>>65517175I think it would have been really cool if the M60-2000 program would have been pursued for a domestic purchase. Just build a huge pool of "outdated" second tier armor and they could have just given them out to infantry as an FSV like candy. They only weighed like 55 tons yet were better armored than pretty much anything but the M1A2, Leo2A5 and Challenger when the program was proposed for mass production. You can get 1500hp out of the AVDS too with cooling upgrades and new injectors/turbos/ECU so it would have actually been faster than many current MBTs too.
>>65517311And yet the united states military of the past decided its primary tank being almost half a century out of date was not acceptable.
>>65517275Still plenty of space to gtfo, just a bit cramped to enter desu
>>65517324And Russia considers it's 57 year old MBT with an egregious fatality rate supreme.
>>65517149>comparing apples to oranges>technological progress is linear bro>since the British used the brown bess for 100 years that would be the same as if we were still using m1903a1 as our service rifle today bro
>>65517363well this aged like a glass of milk in tropical heathttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKUcDv2Hufo17.09.2026Tanks — 12346 (+1)Armored fighting vehicle — 25345 (+6)Artillery systems — 49863 (+43)MLRS — 2139 (+7)Anti-aircraft warfare — 1645 (+3)Planes — 442Helicopters — 356Ground robotic systems — 2644 (+14)UAV — 520508 (+1439)Cruise missiles — 5111Ships (boats) — 35Submarines — 2Cars and cisterns — 150018 (+461)Special equipment — 4697 (+5)Military personnel — aprx. 1513490 people (+1960)
>>65517165That was the best tank in the world 20 years before the M1 entered service.
>>65517319I think it's a good idea to have tons of "good enough" tanks to supplement fewer but more advanced tanks.
>>65517149Iirc, it was designed with expandability in mind.
>>65517149>M4 sherman was the main tank of the US military well into the 80's but they pretended that was ok because they gave it some composite addon packagYou present a compelling arguement and I find myself convinced.
>>65517149>like if the M4 sherman was the main tank of the US military well into the 80'sThink bigger
>>65517324>>65517149Nigger, we have been playing whack-a-mole with goat fuckers in the middle east for the last 30 years because the Soviets couldn't into an economy or social rights of their people. Why the fuck did we need anything better?
>>65517275>tank in 2026>get out lol
>>65517450>20 years beforeM48A5 entered service and was produced at approximately the same time as the first M1s, late 1970s((You)'re thinking of earlier 90 mm-main-gun versions of the Patton such as for example the M48A3, from circa 1960)
