L.T., good post.
I had a chance to talk to an officer in the Australian armored corps last year. Thay have M1A2 abrams and he talked about it like it was a sports car. Apparently, they run drills on the firing range where they will take off at full speed and the firing system is so sophisticated that they can detect, engage and hit targets with the first shot as if they were standing still.
modern tanks are infinitely more lethal than their ww2 counterparts. The big problem, however, is that the accuracy, range and lethality of its adversaries, namely airpower, AT missiles and RPGs has increased even faster.
At Kursk in 43, the german army was able to use its Tiger tanks to blast its way through the enemy lines and feel reasonably confident that no weapon in the Soviet arsenal could hurt it. Any army that tries the same thing now will just wind up with a lot of burning tanks.
Modern tanks are now in a similar position to WW2 battleships, no longer decisive weapons, but still useful in a supporting role.
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