The Ukraine war is going to bring one question to the forefront -- Is the age of tanks and armored vehicles over? Have hand-held anti-armor weapons coupled with small drones made armor irrelevant on a typical modern battlefield assuming the the troops are well supplied with these weapons. The toll on Russian armor in the Ukraine makes it appear so. In a battlefield that is not completely open and/or flat like a desert - it appears even the most advanced armored vehicles can easily be picked off with hand-held weapons plus drones for spotting. Additionally larger drones can launch anti-armor weapons and suicide drones play a role. Will the future role of armored vehicles be confined to transport and operation as long range artillery for bombardment -- but not direct engagement with enemy troops. The results of the Ukraine war has opened this question. Is it that the Russians are simply poorly using their armor in combined troop tactics or has portable battlefield technology made armor irrelevant. Are tanks going the path of battleships in WWII when air power made the battleship irrelevant? Leading the rise of carriers as the central point of a sea task force.
Good point Is the era of taking territories gone Putin doesn't plan to pillage and rape as armies usually do...he seems only to want a sphere of influence In colonization times 16-18th century it was easy to take over a country because it was cheap to maintain and you could steal resources and be profitable Now days , like Ukraine you have to rebuild and pay to maintain society like, hospitals, highways, subways, education, welfare...I don't think taking over a country pays for itself anymore...The Soviets should have learned this lesson when they went broke trying to support all their States
Sort of an interesting and tricky lesson there though. Yes, the Soviets went broke from trying to support all the states, but there was also the reverse problem where the highly productive states were being bled dry to support the activities of the central government. Notably Georgia and Ukraine were big producers in a number of areas but the fruits of their labor and economy were all being bled off to support the lifestyles and political projects of the ruling class in Moscow. This too led to the break up of the soviet union and we will still see some of this at play. Vlad moans and tells big fake history stories about how the Soviets messed up and separated Ukraine from Russia. Yeh, okay, whatever. The fact that Ukraine and Georgia did not want to support Moscow's military projects and global was one of the reasons why Moscow was more depressed about losing Ukraine and Georgia than the Ukraine and Georgia were about saying bye-bye to Moscow. Sometimes it gets pointed out that Russia has less GDP than Texas. Just imagine Texas having the frigging military expenses that Russia has with less GDP and Texas also propping up militaries and scumbag governments all over the world at the same time as Russia does. Yeh, Russia has a history of wanting some of those states to prop Russia up in with the examples of ones that they are subsidizing with the money they rob from the productive states. Of course, one can argue that when the Russians take over a region/state their economy is destroyed so Russian "help" is needed. Sad but true. Not getting much planting of crops in Ukraine this spring. Oh, and that steel mill in Maripol that produded 40% of Europe's steel? Nope, neither Ukraine nor Russia going to get any revenue out of that puppy for many years if ever. Wayyy to go Vlad. Hell of a job Brownie.