[mothsonasloth]

<armchair_opinion meta="some non-combat reserve experience">

I think we will see the tanks in future battlefields still but rather than cannons they will be using more electronic warfare and will be providing indirect fire with "smart" weapons. Essentially they will be multi role armoured vehicles with high manoeuvrability e.g. (British Ajax Scout Vehicle)

Or my sci-fi'ish theory of a "drone tank"

Why?

* Governments have high demands from defence and at the same time want low costs.

* Military doesn't want an infantryman any more; they want a soldier who can perform several other roles. Same goes for vehicles.

* The concept of modular vehicles with the same chassis is becoming popular.

* Everyone who was taught or believed cold war military tactics is retiring or will be soon. So new doctrines will emerge.

<armchair_opinion/>

[wefarrell]

Considering drones are more expendable than humans we're more likely to see high volume swarms of low cost, lightly armored drones. Armor will likely be reserved for any humans who need to be in close proximity to the firefight.

[usrn]

I'd imagine what you'll really have is a primary tank with a human "field support" technician/operator and a bunch of unnamed machines that are at the front doing most of the physical fighting. Humans are expensive and Russia (most Western countries really) was already suffering from a shortage of young workers.

I'd be shocked if canons went away though. The end goal of warfare is to cause enough chaos/destruction that your enemy's choices are constrained to what you want. Without physical violence there's no sense going out into the field in the first place.

[thinkmassive]

Battlebots: Electronic Warfare edition!

The ultimate faraday cage match, where swarms of autonomous surface and air vehicles jam, cook, and subvert the circuits of the opposition into oblivion

[usrbinbash]

> I think we will see the tanks in future battlefields still but rather than cannons they will be using more electronic warfare and will be providing indirect fire with "smart" weapons.

But why would such capabilities need to be installed on the heavy chassis of a tank?

Electronic warfare and smart weaponry benefit alot from mobility and redundant systems that can operate even when front-line-logistics are interrupted. Tanks offer neither, they are slow, hard to repair, and burn fuel like noones business.

The only advantage a tank offers is, well, being tank-y, and as modern ATGM systems have demonstrated in Ukraine, that advantage isn't what it used to be.

[ape4]

Yup drone vs drone seems like the future.

[PartiallyTyped]

Reinforcement Learning will shine. From starcraft, even with all the handicaps, AlphaStar was capable of out maneuvering and outdoing humans in micro(management) without breaking a sweat! Now remove those limitations and let the stuff run on the hardware the US military has access to and you have a truly lethal swarm.