Tankies

I could comment about a few things in this opinion piece but I will concentrate on one.

Tanks and the ADF.

In the air and on land it’s a similar story, although rising unit costs have seen the numbers dwindle over time. Army’s 150 Centurion tanks were replaced by 101 Leopards and those in turn by 59 Abrams. Each generation was substantially more capable than the previous, but its role was the same.

That isn't true. Australia only has 27 or so M-1s. The rest were parked for lack of resources to keep the full buy going.

As pointed out before, the M-1 is a huge waste of resources.

27 poorly performing M-1 tanks vs. 101 Leopard 1s?

The ADF M-1 decision was a downgrade.

I will take a larger number of reliable Leopards that have good-enough capability.

How to improve the situation?

The ADF needs to disband its entire M-1 tank force. It provides no value.

If the ADF wants tanks, talk to the Canadians for advice.

There are some places in the Pacific Rim where you cannot use heavy tanks. There are some places where you can.

As for "medium" tanks, that is another story.

Read Ralph Zumbro.

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