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Comment by mdekkers | Hacker News Reader

> If there were ever to be any kind of “meat grinding” war

Haven't you heard? Ukraine needs 500.000 more units of meat for the grinder. Russia are likewise looking for some huge number.

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According to Wikipedia, we have "some 3,700 M1A1, M1A2 SEPv2/v3 in storage". So we have literally thousands of main battle tanks we will never use we could just give them. It's a meat grinder because we're making it so.

How do MBTs materially change a conflict where every participant has (tens of) millions of landmines ready for deployment?

What good do MBTs do in isolation against attack helicopters with 15km-range ATGMs?

If even that. Think cheaper, like kamikaze (or not) explosive drones. (Substitute armor piercing as needed.)

MBTs do not have sufficient AA or ECM capability ever. Either a specialty formation is required or something carrier sized to have a chance.

Their existence is the old strategy of demolition and suppression of infantry. (At the last of which they do not quite succeed.)

We have enough active military equipment to fight land wars with two superpowers simultaneously. We have enough of all equipment to give to Ukraine. Not lease or sell, just get them to win without losing so many people. Fuck, give them a carrier group. Rain tomahawks down on St Petersburg and Moscow. Destroy every oil terminal and arms factory.

At what point does Russia just deploy nuclear weapons?

Life is cheap

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