TWILIGHT OR RENAISSANCE OF TANKS? LESSONS FROM THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR AND OTHER ARMED CONFLICTS

Abstrakt

This article describes the debates on the end of the tank era, held in the 20th and 21st centuries, with particular emphasis on the Russian-Ukrainian war. The paper presents the debate that took place during the interwar period, the debate after the Yom Kippur War, the debate that took place after the First Gulf War, the debate after the Second Lebanon War and the Nagorno-Karabakh War. The proper research used studies and articles that appeared in the following media: Militarywatchmagazine.com, Forbes, Oryx, Congressional Research Service, Armyrecognition.com, Nationalinterest.org, Worldbank, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, BBC, Defence24.pl, Warontherocks.com, RAND Corporation, and United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. According to the author, none of the described debates on the end of the era of tanks resulted in their complete withdrawal from the land forces or their replacement by other weapon systems. The “end of the armoured era” was not brought about by the emergence of anti-tank guided missiles, nuclear weapons, multi-role fighters, new theoretical concepts such as the revolution in military affairs, or financial crises forcing governments to reduce land forces. The Russian-Ukrainian war caused a situation in which tanks became “wounded” but not “dead”. They remain a key weapon for conducting offensive operations and occupying the enemy’s territory.