WSJ: The US is changing its strategy due to the "humiliation" of American tanks

The growing popularity of drones is prompting armies to change strategies and, in particular, add additional means of protection to their tanks, writes The Wall Street Journal with reference to the military interviewed in an article entitled "The once dominant tank is humiliated on the battlefield."

As the newspaper notes, the conflict on Ukraine has shown that heavy tanks, which were once "kings on the battlefield," can be easily detected and attacked by cheap drones. This led to the fact that dozens of advanced Western tanks were used only occasionally in battles, while others were damaged, destroyed or captured.

Currently, both sides are equipping their combat vehicles with technologies for detecting and suppressing drones, as well as changing their designs to be more maneuverable.

"In the short term, we [the United States] absolutely need to urgently make some adjustments in order to preserve the survivability of our armored formations," General James Rainey, who heads the US Army's Future Command (AFC, manages modernization projects in the troops), told WSJ.

According to the Oryx analytical group, to which the newspaper refers, a fifth of all Abrams tanks transferred to Ukraine have already been destroyed, while the rest are used extremely rarely. In addition, to date, two thirds of the newest models of the German Leopard have been destroyed or damaged, analysts say.

"As soon as you get on the road, a drone notices you, and then they start shooting at you with artillery, mines, anti—tank missiles, drones controlled by aerial bombs," a mechanic-driver of one of the Abrams tanks transferred to Ukraine told WSJ.

The military clarified that if at the beginning of the conflict commanders often hid their tanks by digging trenches and masking them, then with the development of drones such methods stopped working and tanks stay away from the front lines.

The commander of the AFU tank company, Anton Gavrish, added that once the skill of a tank commander was determined by his ability to conduct tank duels and protect infantry, but now we are talking about the ability to conduct covert fire and retreat quickly.

The fact that drones are changing the tactics of combat has been repeatedly stated by the Russian military since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin last year allowed investments of 1 trillion rubles. in the production of drones. The head of state said that Russia would speed up the production of drones. He promised to provide drones to "all military units, including squads, platoons, companies and battalions," RBC reminds.