Whats the purpose of tanks? The British Army's view talks about four key roles that tanks undertake and, in their view, together provide a very valauble and unique capability set that other assets cannot offer. #tanktwitter

(1) Shock Action. The sudden, concentrated application of violence, the combined result of surprise, mobility and firepower concentrated in time and space. A result is to paralyse the enemy to seize the initiative.

(2) Aggressive Mobile Action to Destroy Enemy Armour. Tanks are the core mobile element of the 24hr anti-armour capability, empowered by their anti-tank firepower and tactical agitlity to render them the lead role in the destruction of enemy armoured forces.

(3) Close Combat in Conjunction with Infantry. An enemy that cannot be destroyed, defeated or dislodged by fire must be removed by infantry assault. Tanks support infantry with fire support, sealing off objectives and providing shock action on the target.

(4) Exploitation. Once an enemy force is doslodged, the tank switches to exploitation of successes beyond the initial objective at a pace beyond that of other cpaabilities owing to high mobility, firepower and protection.

Acknowledging there are capabilities in adjacent domains, particularly attack helicopters and hand held anti-tank system which offer some of the tank's capabiltities. However, these do not offer the permanence nor reliability of effect of a tank and cannot effectively replace it

If anyone has the equivalent official core duties/justification of the tank for other militaries I'd love to hear them - reply or DM me.