2024-03-18 12:05:34
The modern tank, heavily armed and armored, is a versatile and mobile weapon. It was a critical piece of warfare at all times.
Visual Capitalist Chris Dickert’s visualization shows the world’s 15 largest tank fleets based on the 2024 Military Balance Report of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Military balance?
Let’s see the three best fleets.
1. United States
As the world’s preeminent military power, it’s no surprise that the United States also has the largest fleet of tanks, and a huge advantage at that.
A total of just over 45,000 armored fighting vehicles are in service. Of these, 2,640 are immediately deployable tanks (Main Battle Tanks). In addition, 12,800 vehicles are stored, of which another 2,000 are main battle tanks.
The United States learned the lessons of the invasion of Ukraine, where anti-tank weapons imported from the West and massive Ukrainian artillery cut Russian tanks to pieces. As a result, the US recently canceled the modernization of the M1 Abrams in favor of a more ambitious upgrade.
Meanwhile, the US is anxiously watching an assertive China and a potential clash over Taiwan, where air and naval forces might play a critical role. But a recent military exercise showed that Taiwan’s military, equipped with American-made tanks and armored fighting vehicles, is crucial to preserving the island’s autonomy.
2. Russia
According to Oryx, a Dutch open-source intelligence and defense website, at the time of writing, Russia has lost nearly 2,800 tanks since its invasion of Ukraine. Considering that in the 2022 edition of Military Balance, Russia had an estimated 2,927 tanks in service, these are very serious losses.
Russia was able to maintain the approximately 2,000 tanks on the battlefield partly by increasing domestic production. A number of defense plants have been taken over by the state-owned Rostec, which currently operates around the clock. Russia now spends a third of its budget on defense, which corresponds to regarding 7.5% of GDP.
At the same time, they are also decommissioning their Soviet-era stocks, which are being modernized before being sent to the front. How long they can keep this up is an open question; their supplies are large but not unlimited. This is what their inventory looks like:
3. China
China ranks third and ranks first in the world in terms of the number of tanks in service. It is not typical for the People’s Liberation Army not to have armored vehicles in stock. Which is perhaps not surprising, considering that China is rapidly modernizing its military and the stocks usually contain older models.
China also has one of the largest fleets of armored fighting vehicles in the world, second only to the United States. If we break this number down, we can see that they have the most light tanks, wheeled guns, and infantry fighting vehicles.
This equipment would be essential if China were to attempt to forcibly reunify Taiwan and the mainland. Lightly armored mechanized units must move quickly to capture the island before the Western Allies can enter the fray. It is worth noting that China also has one of the largest fleets of amphibious assault vehicles in the world.
Is the era of tanks over?
At the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, many commentators predicted the end of the tanks, but in the words of Mark Twain, reports of tank destruction were greatly exaggerated.
The United States and China both have remote-controlled and autonomous armored vehicles develops vehicles. So tanks may transform quite a bit in the future, but nothing else on the current modern battlefield rivals them in terms of firepower, mobility and survivability.
1710764701
#worlds #military #balance
