NationStates Jolt Archive

I have recently been compiling a comprehensive list of my entire military Here. (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=100386&highlight=) But, not being a completely military minded person, and never having experienced interaction with the military I am stuck.

I have sucesfully completed my infantry ranks, but my Tank units I am stuck on. Please if you will, answer or help me here with your opinions.

I have a population of 1.506 Billion,
And Have constantly poured money into defence,
But I don't know how many tanks I should have?
So far my numbers stand at 50,000 on the list, but Is this reasonable for a military minded nation of my size?
Please help.
~Pabli

I think the problem is that there really isn't much of a precident for this in reality. China and India are the only nations coming close to nations like ours in terms of population, and neither have economies close to our own. Neither do they spend so much on defence, certainly not compared to Pablicosta.

I believe that China has around 16,000 tanks, though most are rather out of date.

BG has slightly fewer main battle tanks, though they are generally superior machines.

I don't know how much of a strain it would be for you to maintain 50,000 tanks- perhaps it depends upon the type of tank, level of support given to each tank, and what else you have.

Gosh, this isn't much help, is it? I get bored too easily.

I can't imagine that you'd need more tanks than you have, certainly.. considering that you might well have a seventy odd trillion dollar economy and that the number one priority is defence.. somehow it seems wrong to say that one nation can maintain 50,000 modern tanks at once, but.. damn, that's a lot of money.

I'm done now, yes. Hurrah. No use.
Time for the chippy..

You really need to read the thread, "What Logistics Is". You can find it linked in the sticky, "New to NationStates? View these great threads", located at the top of the first page in this forum.

Briefly, if you have 50,000 tanks, you'll need a minimum of 150,000 soldiers to drive and fight the vehicles. You will also need roughly 1.5 million support personnel to keep the tanks supplied and maintained (using the standard 10:1 support to combat personnel ratio).

That is more people than the ENTIRE US ACTIVE-DUTY MILITARY POPULATION- just for your tank corps.

Now let us take a look at the related problems with having 50,000 tanks. What will you do with them? Multi-tonne armored vehicles are cool and sexy, but they weigh 30+ tonnes each. Assuming you have neighbors with land borders, you could conceivably drive the tanks into combat (destroying every single road surface in the country and using the entire nation's fuel reserves in the process). What happens if you want to fight a war across an ocean- or even a large lake? How many Roll on/Roll off cargo ships do you have? How many Amphibious assault ships?

Those 50,000 tanks will cost roughly 10% of their purchase price in maintenance every year. If each tank cost 10 million US dollars to build, then you will be spending $50,000,000,000 every year just in tank maintenance. Where will you store the tanks when they aren't being used to defend you? 50,000 tanks take up a metric buttload of space.

I know that you've been around for a while, but there are several good threads on the subject of military matters in the sticky, "New to NationStates? View these great threads". I recommend giving it a try. Once you've taken a stroll through the various military-related threads there, TG some of the authors and ask for their help- if you still need it.

TEO

beleive it or not, that did help, alot. I'l keep my 50,000 tanks and not increase that number.
Thanks a lot BG,
~Pabli

Thanks Evil Overlord,

I have read the logistsics thread allready.
If you look at my figuires so far I have 50,000 Tanks, and 200,000 personel in The tank Corps. Logistics capabilities are going to be listed seperately, outside the corps.


I think I'l keep the 50k, but maybe lowere that gradually, maybe not. I don't wanna get involved with GDODAD and not have any tanks...

Thanks alot,
~Pabli

Thanks Evil Overlord,

I have read the logistsics thread allready.
If you look at my figuires so far I have 50,000 Tanks, and 200,000 personel in The tank Corps. Logistics capabilities are going to be listed seperately, outside the corps.


I think I'l keep the 50k, but maybe lowere that gradually, maybe not. I don't wanna get involved with GDODAD and not have any tanks...

Thanks alot,
~Pabli

No problem. Something you may want to consider- assuming your military doctrine is oriented toward defense- is reducing the numbers of tanks and increasing the numbers of AT mines, mobile AT guns and missile launchers. Chad defeated Libya using this concept.

The Libyans used T-72 Soviet tanks. Chad used Toyota Land Cruisers with AT missile launchers mounted on top. It usually cost one LandCruiser for each T-72 killed, but it was cheap at the price.

Another good option for defensive doctrine is dedicated AT infantry units equipped with AP missiles, radios, and laser target designators. Couple these units with whole batteries of artillery tubes firing laser-guided munitions, and you should be able to stop just about anything- or at least slow down an invasion long enough for the reserves and allies to mobilize and arrive.

FWIW, your best real defense against GDODAD is making lots of alliances with anti-GDODAD nations.

Glad I could help,
TEO

I intend to put things like that up soon enough, thanks.

~Pabli