U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday his tariff policy was aimed at promoting the domestic manufacturing of tanks and technology products, not sneakers and T-shirts.
Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One in New Jersey, Trump said he agreed with comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on April 29 that the U.S. does not necessarily need a “booming textile industry” - comments that drew criticism from the National Council of Textile Organizations.
“We’re not looking to make sneakers and T-shirts. We want to make military equipment. We want to make big things. We want to make, do the AI thing,” Trump said.
“I’m not looking to make T-shirts, to be honest. I’m not looking to make socks. We can do that very well in other locations. We are looking to do chips and computers and lots of other things, and tanks and ships,” Trump said.
russian tanks are designed for the ease of use and survivabulity of the tank, they are fast, weakly armored, big gun, have only 3 people (gunner, commander and driver) operating with an auto-loader for ammo, which means that all the loaded munition sits right under the people, and that’s why you see russian tanks go boom the instant something hits them
western tanks are designed for the survivability of the personnel, they are slower but with much more anti-tank defense, balistic shields, and have 4 people (gunner, loader, commander and driver), one more then the soviet tanks, because the extra man is the loader, which brings the ammo from the shielded munitions compartment to the gun, making it so that in the event of the tank blowing up, it just stops and breaks down but the troops inside are safe
For example:
Russian tank getting hit by a drone (watch the whole video, it has the drone’s pov as well)
Western tanks
That’s a bit of a simplification. IRL a western tank being hit often still means that the crew is dead. Especially now.
Also Soviet tanks’ auto-loader, I think, was there for better loading times, not ease of use. Soviet tanks were part of a doctrine where survivability wasn’t that important for either crew or tank, what mattered was achievable scale of production and deployment and firepower and speed. That’s initially, and later, well, better loading times still look good at maneuvers and the Soviet Union didn’t have much war until Afghanistan and its dissolution.
Anyway. Said western tank with its surviving crew will just be taken care of a bit later. Its crew won’t be able to get away, cause some drone will drop a grenade at them. It won’t be able to just sit in the tank, because enemy infantry will likely retrieve them, and breathing smoke is not good.
While the fact remains that a cheap drone kills an expensive tank.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Cheers