Ukraine

This clip is a good metaphor for this stage of the war. Turtle tanks are two things 1.) A distraction meant to keep the international narrative that Russia is winning with superior strength dominant for as long as possible before it utterly falls apart from the opposite reality becoming apparent. 2.) A genuine delusion/expression of desperation in Russian armor design/doctrine. Independent of the threat drones pose, the idea of fielding a massive turtle tank with a HUGE profile, low visibility/battlefield awareness, poor maneuverability and essentially no reverse gear to speak of is absurd when Ukraine has access to semi-modern western main battle tanks.

This is how you are supposed to use a tank. Imagining a semi-trained Abrams crew engaging a Russian turtle "tank" is like imagining a semi-professional adult baseball team playing a baseball game against a kids little league team. In otherwords it would be funny how badly mismatched this matchup was if it we weren't talking about war where people are dying to defend Ukraine.

A single semi-modern western main battle tank working with combined arms and UAV surveillance/FPV attack drone support can destroy a mountain of these Russian turtle "tanks". The numbers become meaningless because the matchup is so uneven, or rather one side has refused to actually evolve and is relying on propaganda/delaying distractions with wild battlefield strategies that nobody tries anymore for good reason because they are obsolete. Slapping a new coat of "but DRONES AND AI!" on top of a careless throwing away of an incomprehensible amount of human life doesn't really change what is going on here fundamentally.

This video is a great demonstration of that, the Russian turtle tank stood essentially no chance against the Ukrainian tank crew so long as the Ukrainian tank crew kept their cool and remained in constant communication with reconassaince and surveillance friendly assets in the area.

Maybe Russia will decide horses are the best way to defeat drones next? Do you think western tech media will do hype pieces about how western main battle tanks are now actually obsolete and Russia is smart for switching to only horses for its cavalry? Wired will do some breathless piece about how genius the Russians are for realizing that using electrified motorbikes and golf carts gives them an electronic signature and that *horses are far more stealthy (donkeys, Russia only actually has a couple of horses and relies mostly on tactical donkeys). Elon MUsk will market a new Tesla CYBERHORSE which is just a horse with carboard horse armor spray painted silver.

sigh