Is the Main Battle Tank Obsolete?

Well here's a link to an article of almost the same topic:

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/docs/4lastmbt.pdf

As long as you have citys,forests and bunkers you will always have a need for an MBT. Its sort of liken to a shotgun and are needed in urban warfare.The role of any MBT was not tank to tank but to clear the way of any obesticles that the infintry might incounter. This was and still is its main mission.I have to agree that they should be light and faster.This will happen in a few years with what the British are trying to devolpe and I think that they will do it.As soon as the British do devolpe there eletric-magnetic field for the tank you will see some radical changes in tank devolpiments.You can't always get what you want in desturction from the air or with missells.So for as right now the MBT'S are need and provide an important funcition.Digger

YEAH, you dont see any more Battle Kursks.

I'd say that the Abrams and MBT still has a role to play. They are virtually impenatrable to anything that's out there. I'd prefer something smaller and more mobile that still packs a punch and doesn't give up its armor defences. Probably a tall order. Since we control the air, that makes our MBT's pretty darn tough to defeat.

Wiliam,

Oil prices are driven by market supply and demand forces, not the whim of the Middle Eastern producers. We have high oil prices now because of increasing demand from China and Asia for oil but there's correspondingly less oil being produced to meet that demand...mostly because the current exporters are producing at or near capacity already. It's not in their longterm interest to see high oil prices as that actually reduced consumption and their profit/revenue flows.

Anyhow, back to the topic of the future of the MBT...I do think we are a pivotal moment in terms of where technology and strategic needs play a role. The MBT is taking on a lot of the characteristics that battleships had at the start of WWII. They are expensive, highly visible expressions of force/might, but really only useful if the other guy also has expensive highly visible expressions of force/might for them to go up against and defeat.

I think there is still a place for the Abrams in the TO&E of the modern army but it's role is diminishing as more and more conflicts become localized or asymmetrical as opposed to the mass battles on the plains of Central Europe that were once envisaged. Smally unit mobility and survivability are coming more to the forefront and the role of the MBT by contrast is being reduced to the background.

i think you have a point about it being a gas guzzler but I think that there will always have to be a main battle tank to support troops and engage other tanks. But what we should do is force the Middle East to lower their oil prices by a lot. They have a monopoly and the prices will still rise.

just my 2 cents...