Danish Leopard tanks in Bosnia show armour supporting a peacekeeping force in a dangerous environment. Canadian use of tanks in Afghanistan supplies another case in which protected firepower remained useful outside a conventional armoured campaign. The vehicle's protection and gun can defeat threats, while its visible presence also changes an opponent's calculation. A traversing tank gun is compared with a warship's main battery: neither must be the commander's most lethal weapon to communicate that escalation is available. Force protection therefore includes deterrent signalling as well as surviving an attack.
Notable Point · 1:03:41-1:06:55
Tanks as protection and visible coercive power
Examples from Bosnia and Afghanistan show why a main battle tank can protect a deployed force even before it fires.