> Ah yes, the dreaded invasion of Western Europe by Russia, with their 90% outdated tanks and planes that could be held back by a single major European army.
Firstly, it's quite disingenious to take Germany as the example when they have never had a large army in the past 50 years and have not been a military power. Let's compare what is comparable: Russia and France use about the same percentage of their budget for military purposes: 9% for France, 11% for Russia.
Tanks - Russia
- T72 - 2000 tanks, 7000 in reserve
- T90 - 350 active, 200 reserve
- T14 Armata (i.e., top of the line) - 100 planned, 20+ active.
Tanks - France
- Leclerc (top of the line) - 222 active, 200 upgraded to XLR-Standard
- AMX10/20 - 300
Planes - Russia
- SU57 - 1.
- SU35S (refurbished Su27 from 2003) - 97
- SU34 (from 1990) - 120
- Mig35 - 4.
- Planes from before 1980 - 500
Planes - France
- Rafale B/C/M - 150
- Mirage 2000 - 120
So, even if Russia intends to throw tanks from 1970 at Europe to have them be utterly crushed by aviation, a single country from Europe stands more or less toe to toe with it.
Tanks are a completely outdated military technology. Shoulder launched anti-tank missiles, anti-tank aircraft and now drones can all render large quantities of tanks scrap metal, especially the majority of old Russian tanks with WW2 era armor. There's a reason western countries have stopped investing in tanks and spend most of their military R&D budgets on airplanes and drones these days, air-superiority wins the day in modern conventional warfare.
Tanks - Russia
- T72 - 2000 tanks, 7000 in reserve
- T90 - 350 active, 200 reserve
- T14 Armata (i.e., top of the line) - 100 planned, 20+ active.
Tanks - France
Planes - Russia Planes - France So, even if Russia intends to throw tanks from 1970 at Europe to have them be utterly crushed by aviation, a single country from Europe stands more or less toe to toe with it.