![]() ![]() A 2021 Russian source estimated that their operational main battle fleet was closer to 2,600 tanks, made up of T-72s, T-80s, and T-90s, with another 400 T-72 variants used as range tanks. Of Russia’s nearly 13,000 active combat tanks, only a fraction are main battle tanks. (5,500).īut the headline number misses nuances in the composition of the Russian tank fleet. This is more than the combined total of the number two and three spots, North Korea (6,645) and the U.S. Numbering 12,556 tanks, the Russian Federation has the largest fleet in their arsenal by far, from the workhorse T-72 series to the ultra-advanced T-14 Armata. The numbers do not include armored personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles. M1A2 Abrams or the German Leopard 2, but also more lightly-armed medium and light tanks, like Thailand’s Stingray. The ranking includes main battle tanks, like the U.S. Global Firepower has released their ranking of combat tank fleet sizes for 2023, which we’ve visualized in this infographic. Since then, despite some commentators predicting the end of the tank era, they remain a cornerstone of 21st century armies. The tank, an armored all-terrain fighting vehicle, revolutionized the way we fight when introduced during the First World War. Thus, ‘Little Willie’ was redundant almost as soon as it was built.Visualizing the World’s Top 25 Fleets of Combat Tanks This would become the classic British tank design of the Great War. Its designers, William Tritton and Walter Wilson came up with a set of workable tracks which were fitted to the ‘Landship’ now known as ‘Little Willie,’ said to be an irreverent nickname for the German Crown Prince, Kaiser Wilhelm.īy the time ‘Little Willie’ was built, Wilson and Tritton had already come up with an improved idea of a machine with tracks running all the way around the vehicle, which would be able to cross trenches. ![]() of Lincoln, was contracted to build a prototype machine. After many experiments and false starts an agricultural firm, William Foster & Co. In 1915 the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, created a Landships Committee to tackle the problems of trench warfare. It proved that a vehicle encompassing armoured protection, an internal combustion engine, and tracks was a possibility for the battlefield. Little Willie was the first working tank in the world. ![]()
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