Pretty much anything armoured on tank chassis is armoured and built on tank chassis to give it the capability to operate alongside tanks while under fire. This is very well an extremely offensive capability. Especially with things like bridge layers, demining vehicles, and anti-aircraft systems, because they allow tanks (and other mechanised units) to advance into places otherwise not reachable or untenable for them.
On the other hand, tanks can also be used defensively, and some are built especially with defensive use in mind. The entire Leopard family for instance was designed specifically for the purpose of defensive (delaying) warfare against overwhelming tank forces (The Warsaw Pact had way more tanks than NATO during the entire Cold War) using “shoot and scoot” tactics, which is a big reason for their focus on very high mobility. (for example, they can go backwards as fast as forwards, and sacrifice quite a bit of armour for speed)
Cheap drones may be or become the prime anti tank weapons on modern battlefields, but warfare has always been and will always be an arms race. Sooner or later, someone will find a counter to drones, tanks will be upgraded (and probably future tanks could be crewless, too, and be another drone type), and the wheel keeps spinning.
Indeed. The tank has been declared dead for so often (pretty much every time someone invented a new anti-tank weapon) that it’s very likely to be a false alarm once again. There are many things that can take out a tank, including another tank. (With current technology it’s impossible to armour any practical vehicle in a way that gives complete immunity to a tank gun, common wisdom for tank on tank combat is whoever sees the opponent first and shoots first, wins the engagement, because one well placed shot will at least disable a tank) Pretty much any modern war is fought using a combined arms approach, tanks are just one part of this. Cheap mass produced Drones are a relatively new addition, and countermeasures are still evolving. Radio controlled drones can be jammed, and the wires of wire guided drones can be cut. In the end, especially the small drones typically used for anti-tank work can be shot down with something as simple as a shotgun, which is centuries old technology, fires cheap “dumb” ammunition, but has seen relatively limited use in warfare.
Offensive and defensive isn’t that simple.
Pretty much anything armoured on tank chassis is armoured and built on tank chassis to give it the capability to operate alongside tanks while under fire. This is very well an extremely offensive capability. Especially with things like bridge layers, demining vehicles, and anti-aircraft systems, because they allow tanks (and other mechanised units) to advance into places otherwise not reachable or untenable for them.
On the other hand, tanks can also be used defensively, and some are built especially with defensive use in mind. The entire Leopard family for instance was designed specifically for the purpose of defensive (delaying) warfare against overwhelming tank forces (The Warsaw Pact had way more tanks than NATO during the entire Cold War) using “shoot and scoot” tactics, which is a big reason for their focus on very high mobility. (for example, they can go backwards as fast as forwards, and sacrifice quite a bit of armour for speed)
Indeed. The tank has been declared dead for so often (pretty much every time someone invented a new anti-tank weapon) that it’s very likely to be a false alarm once again. There are many things that can take out a tank, including another tank. (With current technology it’s impossible to armour any practical vehicle in a way that gives complete immunity to a tank gun, common wisdom for tank on tank combat is whoever sees the opponent first and shoots first, wins the engagement, because one well placed shot will at least disable a tank) Pretty much any modern war is fought using a combined arms approach, tanks are just one part of this. Cheap mass produced Drones are a relatively new addition, and countermeasures are still evolving. Radio controlled drones can be jammed, and the wires of wire guided drones can be cut. In the end, especially the small drones typically used for anti-tank work can be shot down with something as simple as a shotgun, which is centuries old technology, fires cheap “dumb” ammunition, but has seen relatively limited use in warfare.