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Will Britain Say Good-Bye to the Battle Tank?

Jamie Dettmer

   On the morning of September 15, 1916, during the battle of the Somme,
   one of the world's deadliest engagements, German soldiers were shocked
   to find themselves confronting the first ever deployed combat tanks.
   Military historians have debated the direct tactical impact of
   Britain's cumbersome Mark 1 tank on the World War I battle, which ended
   inconclusively after a million men had lost their lives or been left
   wounded. But its psychological effect on German soldiers, who watched
   the tanks crush barbed wire and navigate trenches, was "immense,"
   causing "bewilderment, terror and concern in equal measure," according
   to military historian David Willey.
   Britain has played a storied role in the development of the battle
   tank. Its post-world War II tanks, the Centurion, Chieftain and
   Challenger, are considered iconic and were eagerly bought by other
   armies, including Israel's, which used the Centurion with devastating
   effect in 1967 and 1973.
   But now with defense cuts looming, British ministers and defense chiefs
   are debating whether the country should become the first major European
   military power to do without tanks altogether.
   The proposal is provoking outrage in some quarters -- as well as
   furious exchanges in the letter pages of Britain's broadsheet
   newspapers, The Times and Daily Telegraph.
   Critics of the proposal to terminate Britain's entire tank fleet say
   the move would amount to a further significant downgrading of Britain's
   armed forces, which have suffered repeated and drastic cuts in funding
   for decades. In the past decade Britain has cut its number of soldiers
   from 100,000 to just over 70,000. Eliminating tanks, they say, would
   place in peril Britain's "special relationship" with the United States.
   But British officials say tanks are a bygone weapon and there's no
   point being stuck in the past. Military investment needs to be shifted
   to cyber-warfare and other cutting-edge technology, they add.
   Britain is already in discussions with NATO partners about plans to
   give up heavy armor and for more detailed strategies to better
   coordinate the various military capabilities of member states. This is
   the only way forward, say officials, to cope with financial pressures,
   which will be worsened by the economic impact of the novel coronavirus.
   Their opponents say the proposal is just cost cutting masquerading as
   strategy.
   Relinquishing tanks "would place us in military terms behind the likes
   of Germany, Poland, France and Hungary," laments Paul Cornish, a former
   tank commander, whose father was a member of the test crew trying out
   the Chieftain tank when it was first introduced in the 1960s.

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