So far, only fully tracked vehicles can provide load carrying capacity and cross-country mobility needed to effectively fight the maneuver battle. Finally, tanks must be able to maneuver quickly over the battlefield in order to bring our lethality and survivability assets to bear. Enemy tanks with heavy base armors and sophisticated appliques present the greatest challenge to our tanks. Lethality requirements are driven by the need for the tank to engage and destroy any vehicle entering the close combat battlespace. New technologies such as sensors and countermeasure suites and signature management have been shown to greatly enhance survivability against the vast majority of these systems. Most threat weapons can be defeated with base armor, but improved ATGMs and new top-attack weapons require armor solutions that would exceed weight limitations. This includes threat tanks firing KE projectiles, guided and unguided (infantry fired) anti-tank weapons and high precision and conventional artillery delivered munitions. Survivability must be maximized against any weapon system capable of engaging in the close combat battlespace. The operational capabilities of survivability, lethality, and mobility are defined by the need to fight and win against any system entering or engaging tanks in the battlespace. In the defense, mounted units must also fight and destroy enemy forces moving into this battlespace. In the attack, tanks functioning as a part of a combined arms mounted force must enter the close combat battlespace in order to win driving the enemy from an objective or destroying him. They embody the mobile protected firepower needed to fight the close combat maneuver battle. Since its inception during the First World War, the tank has been the preeminent system used in maneuver forces. The driver gets the vehicle to firing position, the tank commander selects targets, the loader ensures the weapon is loaded with the correct ammunition for the target selected, and the gunner makes sure the round strikes the target in the area of maximum vulnerability. The crew exists solely to serve the main gun. The armor is provided to ensure that the crew is protected from shrapnel (the main cause of battlefield casualties) and small arms fire. The entire purpose of the tank is to carry the main gun into battle.

Do tanks serve a purpose in modern day