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Turkey has committed a crime against tank aesthetics:

Putting SPAAG turrets on MBT chassis is not just theoretical, Gepard is a case of that (Leo 1 chassis), Loara (T-72) and Marksman too (T-55, Leo 2, many others proposed). Though they all skip out on the anti tank missiles. OTOH they have even heavier, 35mm autocannons that can shred any armored...

Exactly, on paper. In reality, it would be sentenced to be shit at one or both of the jobs. Modern tanks can more or less do indirect fire and in Ukraine the crappier ones do, but the other side of this is that they are worth about as much as a (not particularly good) WW2 SPG while doing so...

It is doable since WW2 if not earlier, and occasionally done, but it's always a kinda desperate move from lack of guns or lack of better use for old tanks, rather than because it works well, because it doesn't work well. It is always found out to be suboptimal, as you can optimize a vehicle to...

Yes, but those are minor issues, at least if your military has logistics and maintenance in good order. Also you probably want an APU on a modern tank anyway even if it was a diesel (running all the electronics while not moving and not idling would drain the battery fast), making 3 irrelevant.

Turbines are incredibly light and compact for their power compared to regular piston engines, which is a kinda big deal for a tank, space under armor is premium.

Yeah, it is a good MBT, but not to a degree that would justify its exceptional sticker price by the standards of similar MBTs. Not to mention that buying it would mean continuous dealing with the French. Huge joint military projects in Europe have a reputation about that stuff, see...

There is no final, production Loara nor order for one yet. Radar still can make sense as additional sensors connected to wider air defense system, but those can also be handled separately, and for targeting for the vehicle's own guns, not sure of much benefit in having it. As for first rate...

Apparently the Polish Shilka variant designed 2 decades ago can provide target tracking up to 7-8km, so i guess with good enough hardware radar tracking is not necessary at below 76mm caliber anymore.

If the drone flies higher than 3-4 or so km the guns can't reach it anyway. Might make more sense to add radars to 57mm and similar guns with longer reach. Also could use laser rangefinder in combination with thermals to get better ballistic targeting data for fire control. Well, a SPAAG with...

Bigger drones would be detectable from even longer range by thermals than small ones. With the more recent thermals they can already spot targets well beyond the effective range of the guns. If you aren't going to use the radar much due to the EW spotting and threats that come with it, you may...

Depends on the netting and the seeker, and only when stationary and prepared. And then there's the fancy new thing, sensor fusion assisted seekers. The new trend, successfully tested in Ukraine, is to use high end thermals for SPAAG fire control and spotting, and it apparently works well...

Not exactly a spotter... With some newest missiles, just need to know the general area they are in. Then launch a fire and forget missile like Brimstone, Hellfire Longbow or some Spike models, programmed to go to said area, turn on its seeker (IR or active radar usually), which looks for targets...

No, that assumes the SHORAD vehicles are capable of firing on the move or quickly set up, and as such hang out very close to the tanks, Cold War style. If those (or truck\man portable equivalents like in Ukraine) are sufficiently present and effective on the frontline, classic attack helicopters...

Yup. For something with such low survival chances, you don't want to stick a fortune in sensors on it. Many cheap drone models have their price multiplied many times by putting a thermal camera on them.

With good engines and battery, you get out of the territory of cheap drones. If you want nice sensors, that's a wallet killer, that's how you get US drones that cost as much as older tactical jets.

Possible, but less than optimal. After all interceptions are not easy, and imply the interceptor drone being faster and more agile than the target, and with those capabilities come component costs. That doesn't look good for the economics of doing that. Fast launching many of such in time would...

Not if they use stand-off range missiles like Hellfire Longbow or Spike NLOS. If anything is going to bring them back it's masses of cheap drones. Those generally can't carry long ranged weapons like that.

There is in fact a point for such lower end AA being more common and on the frontline. Though optimally it should be anti tank missiles that are relatively cheap and AA capable - because drones. As drones keep becoming more common AF won't send hundreds of planes to kill hundreds of small and...

Panther has a functional prototype so i would suppose it does exist, as napkin tanks don't go to test ranges. K2 is specifically meant to be different enough from K1 and Abrams to not fall under US export and IP laws. Also in Korean version is has an autoloader and ammo not fully isolated from...