Suddenly Everyone Loves Tanks Again

The once maligned and always mighty tank is making a comeback. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears its second year, the West has agreed to send tanks to Kyiv. Less than a year ago, internet pundits and armchair generals declared the tank obsolete. It never was. And now it looks as if the tried-and-true machine will play a pivotal role in Ukraine’s war against Moscow.

During the spring of 2022, as Russia attempted to quickly roll over Ukraine, western media spilled a lot of ink about the uselessness of the humble tank. Moscow rolled T-80s and T-62s into Ukraine only to lose them to mud and loitering munitions. Mobile Ukrainian soldiers used weapons like the Javelin to blow the tops off Russian armor and move positions before the tanks could respond.

Then photos and videos of Russian tanks covered in improvised armor flooded the internet. These “cope cages” took many forms, but they were all designed to protect tanks from attacks from loitering munitions. They didn’t work and. As of this writing, Russia has lost more than 1,600 tanks in Ukraine, according to the open source intelligence group Oryx. Shortly after that, people began to declare the tank obsolete.

This was always a bad tank-take. Just because Russia was bad at using them and protecting its armor from attacks from above didn’t mean the tank was obsolete. It’s a critical piece of weaponry for taking and holding land and protecting infantry. Now the take can officially retire because Ukraine is set to receive tanks from America and Germany, tanks that will play a critical piece in the war to come.

Kyiv has long wanted western tanks on the battlefield. They’re good at protecting infantry, but will also be critical as Ukraine attempts counter offensives in the coming months and attempts to retake lost territory. Poland, which has Leopard 2 tanks manufactured by Germany, has wanted to give tanks to Ukraine. But a quirk of the arms sales gave Germany the right to say who Poland could give the tanks to, and Berlin refused.

Public pressure mounted against Germany. It refused to send its own Leopard 2s, told Poland it couldn't send theirs, and demanded the U.S. send tanks first. Poland signaled it would send the Leopard 2s with or without Berlin’s permission, and Germany finally relented. On Wednesday, Germany announced it would send Leopard 2s to Ukraine. A few hours later, Biden announced a package including 31 Abrams tanks was also on its way.

The internet, which had just a year earlier maligned the tank as a fallen instrument of war, celebrated with Abrams memes.

The M1 Abrams is a complicated war machine. The Abrams going to Ukraine will be the M1A2 version, which includes advanced optics and a redesigned commander’s station. Some M1A2’s have a secret kind of armor, but that version isn’t going to Ukraine.

The Abrams was designed at a time when the U.S. thought it would fight a land war in Europe against Russia. That was the Cold War fear that built the tank. But it spent the better part of 20 years being refined, upgraded, and redesigned after fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Abrams fought against Russian designed tanks in the First Gulf War, but it appears the Abrams is finally going to see the enemy and the war its creator’s envisioned.

It remains to be seen how the war will play out, and despite the advanced armor of the M1A2 and Leopard 2, a tank’s best defense against another tank is to notice the enemy first and shoot it. A T-62 or T-80 Russian tank will still fell an Abrams if it strikes first. The advanced armor of the Western machines is mostly there to keep the crew alive and give them time to escape.