Why is no one storing old tanks? 

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Back in the 70s and 80s, Bulgaria (and I assume other Warsaw Pact countries) kept ALL tanks and APCs in storage. From T-34s used in the Second World War to T-55s. Old Panzers were used as stationary turrets as well. Absolutely nothing was thrown out, let's keep it "just in case" - artillery and anti-tank guns, Mig-19s, etc.. But the military budget was much bigger and it was a national priority since in an event of a war we'd be facing two NATO members simultaneously. The idea was that in case of a war all men would be mobilized and that a person who had trained on a T-34 back in his youth would be back in that type of a tank - so people who just got out of the mandatory 2 year service and had fresh memory would technically get the best equipment. In the Bulgarian-Soviet "friendship" regiment in Elhovo during the 70s, there was a story that told of a high ranking Soviet general who came to inspect the troops. He then went to the storage bunkers and found the T-34 in which he had fought during WW2 and began crying :)

Stored tanks might not be so useful in a 'big war' but they may be useful in a 'long war'.

"Simply giving old stored tanks to people with little training, will result in those tanks being horrendously misused." As what we see in Ukraine today. Russian tanks being driven straight into ambushes, failing to spread out when engaging, being driven into mud and getting stuck, broken down and abandoned along roads, ...

there was a report saying Pakistan bought 282 older T55 tanks from Serbia and deployed them on Afghanistan boarder and keep then keep the newer modern tanks on the Eastern side facing India. makes good to put assets in positions where they are less challenged and have advantage over adversity in the limited budget.

Some smarty-pants in the Pentagon wrote a paper that concluded: The logistical costs of a tank force goes up to the fifth power of tank tonnage. So if one increases tonnage by X of tanks, the cost to maintain them goes up X^5! I never understood how in the heck this could be the case, until I watched this video!

I am an old tank commander so it hurts to see this, but it is true. We just became attached to our tanks so it is hard to admit that both the men and vehicles have passed our time of service. This was well presented.

An armored brigade has plenty of fuel trucks, the problems is, ensuring the tanks/ Bradley's can go far enough before breaking down. Fuel wasn't a problem in my brigade, the lack of funding of our vehicles being reset and the lack of major parts to keep the tanks going. 2nd bde 1st armored divsion was at less then 50% vehicle operstional status only 10 days into the box at NTC.

God bless that maintenance soldier scooting around on the cart at 7:17 - 7:20

Man literally uploaded at 00.00 in my timezone, classic history channels stuff

With Russia now shipping T62 tanks to the front, it seems at least Russia had all their old tanks in storage.

I was stationed in the Army in the early 80's Attack helicopter unit Ah1S tows. We were about 35 miles form Fulda. There were underground bunkers all over Germany stored with everything. The 11th ACR was expected to have 60-75% causality rate in the first 15 min. The joke was the 11th ACR was going to slow down the Russians by them tripping over their bodies.

In Australia in the 2006-7, I was posted to 1st ARMD and we conducted the transfer from the leopard to the Abraham's and the reason we were told is that due to stress fractures and metal fatigue the leopard was getting punched through with 30mm rounds in tests.

The most important reasons IMO: 1) Nobody expects a long conventional war anymore (this was addressed towards the end of the video), if they did it would make sense storing older tanks because having an old tank is better than having no tanks, and if you're not losing badly the enemy's best tanks would be gone too after a while. But if you don't expect that scenario the maintenance costs just feel like dead weight. 2) Manufacturers make more money building newer tanks (also for export) and the defense industry having a powerful voice in politics is definitely not limited to American/Western politics.

This video aged as a good old wine

they should sell them to civilians honestly id love to buy a tank

All the little towns around me have tanks. My town has an M 60. The one down the road has an M 48. I expect to see a raid on the enemys Dairy Queen one day.

Aged like fine wine.

Not sure what you're talking about. Ukraine is currently building up a nice collection of Russian tanks gifted to them (fuel not included).

Most experienced tank crews from those old tanks are now in their 60's and 70's, those old timers just can't do it anymore.

Interesting how Russia is now using T62 models from the early days of the cold war in Ukraine

I'm from Wisconsin and it feels like every other small town has a decomissioned M60 or older in the center of some town square.

As we see in Syria, obsolete tanks can still be used as Infantry support, and do a damn good job of it (when the skies are clear). Even holding them in the 2nd or 3rd line of defence, only to be moved up when contact is made and reinforcements and firepower is needed so as to keep them hidden from drones. They still have a use, but they have to be used differently than your 'modern' tanks.

When I lived there, an Israeli told me his country had older generation still operational tanks stored in underground bunkers. In a last ditch stand, they'd be better than nothing. Used by someone who knows how to use terrain to advantage, they could hold their own.

It’s so strange to have a puppet tell me to shave my balls

The improvements in guided munitions and their proliferation across every unit on and above the battlefield has made big armored units a liability (mostly financial) rather than an asset. Historically tanks were a force multiplier that was very difficult to remove from the battlefield. Now two 19 year olds with a $200k man portable missile can pretty much get a guaranteed kill on $7M MBT, then flee on foot.

Drinking game: take a shot every time he says "more fuel"

The US isn't storing old tanks because they need the room to store all the newly built M1s the Army and Marines don't want to use.

When I joined up in '66 I was told there were Churchill Tanks in heavy pres in Donnington. I have no idea if that's true but it wouldn't surprise me.

North Korea has been storing old tanks since day 1. Even it's "new" tanks are old designs, so...

Before watching: Because they need regular expensive maintenance even if they aren't in use otherwise they won't work when you need them? After watching: And any tank that isn't cutting edge dies to (relatively) cheap RPG's too.

I understand that older M-1 tanks are being retrofitted with diesel engines. With upgrades sensors / fire-control equipment, etc, should be useful for decades. Similar to upgraded Shermans the Israelis' used for multiple conflicts after WWII. Just because equipment is old doesn't necessarily mean useless. Such as B-52, oftentimes older than the air crew.

I did a bunch of research on the prospects of upgrading the T-55 for continued combat use, and concluded that it was a bad idea considering the tank's inherent limitations (armor can't stop new antitank weapons, interior is too cramped and uncomfortable, unsafe ammo storage). For just a little more money, you could upgrade a T-72, and it would be a much more effective and survivable tank on the battlefield. In modern armies, T-55s could still have uses if converted into things other than MBTs, like recovery vehicles, bridgelayers, minesweepers, and maybe heavy APCs. The T-55 might still have combat potential in impoverished parts of the world where the enemy only has T-55s and RPG-7s, though for that, you'd only need to "upgrade" your T-55s to 1990s levels of technology.

The US just recently decided to "store" a bunch of tanks and other military vehicles in Afghanistan!

Well, we now see the use of old tanks in a real war…scrap metal

This is a ridiculously complex video when all that’s needed is one word - obsolescence. You might as well ask, “Why don’t militaries store thousands of 1950s fighter jets ?” 🤦🏻‍♂️

7:17 Me in the parking lot after shopping:

The real reason you don't store tanks is, money. In tanks hoses rot, seals degrade, lubricants break down, fuels vaporize and water infiltrates electronics. The only way to keep this from happening is constant maintenance. This means running up the engines periodically, driving the tanks to keep the running gear from rusting solid and powering up the electronics. You are constantly sinking money into servicing 2nd line tanks that are probably never going to see service again. More than that, you are diverting money from your 1st line tanks to do it. Problems are made worse if you try to upgrade the systems in your obsolete 2nd line tanks to make them slightly less obsolete. Now you got old tanks with expensive new bits rusting in a field somewhere. Its the law of diminishing returns in action.

One notable exception to this might be Taiwan where older tanks might make good beach defenses and can be parked a few miles from the coast as driven the the cost as needed and be manned by reservist.

The real question is : why nobody's selling old tanks to the populace?

Since old tanks cost too much to store and maintain they should give them to me, I will take good care of them and a tank would look mighty fine sitting in my driveway.

Simply, even reserve tanks still need maintenance and it's not cheap, also in modern combat, those old tanks especially from 1950's-1960's can be destroyed by cheap RPG

Russia is not getting rid of T-72s, there is still about 6000 of them in maintained storage (in addition to over 2000 in active service). Remaining T-62s are also being maintained for reserve forces. The T-55s and T-64s have been decommissioned in 2012, but some are still present in unmaintained storage (for export (in case of T-55s) and source of spare parts for allies possibly).

Yeah, it's better to essentially give them away to nations within your sphere of influence or that are fighting for a cause that benefits you. Keeping the old stock assumes you're going to end up in a fight for survival, which most "power player" nations don't expect to be in for the foreseeable future. So it's unnecessary costs.

Probably important to consider the costs of the basic training for all the soldiers who would be crewing those older vehicles on top of the advanced training required to utilize them. Soldiers themselves can be very costly.

My war story. Lol. Canadian mechanized infantry battalion gets a new CO. Now, of the three battalions in our infantry regiments, one is a light battalion, a leg battalion. This CO had come from a light infantry background and it showed with very little regard for the vehicles and a focus on personal fitness. Great until the Brigade Commander wants his mechanized infantry battalion and is told his VOR (vehicles on repair) rate is close to 60%. Every unit has a focus and mission necessary to success, to ignore that is problemic.

Interesting topic, I think this is the first video on RU-vid that covers tank storage... Thanks Binkov!

I still think it’s worth keeping most if not all tanks. Without maintance and spare parts it would cost just warehouse upkeep which is nothing for governments. Granted most wouldn’t even work during the war, but few that would, would still be useful. Even WW2 tanks pose a massive threat to suprised soldiers or urban targets. Just beacuse you will trash 99/100 old tanks doesn’t make the last one useless. Granted in a grand scope of things it won’t matter. But you never know.

I like Binkov's take on things most of the time. But this one is a bit off on his understanding of the US army. I am an old cold war guy who was stationed in Germany in the 80s. The only US light infantry in Europe was the airborne brigade in Italy. A cold war mechanized infantry division was not much different than an armored division. The armored divisions had 5 armored battalions and 4 mechanized infantry. A Mechanized infantry division had 5 infantry and 4 armored. Both types of divisions also had armored cav squadrons. Post cold war there has been a lot of changes but the mech infantry still use Bradly IFVs. Stryker equipped brigades are not considered mechanized infantry. They are considered a sort of middle weight infantry between mech and light.

8:31 - Artillery unit blows away own commander. "Great Success!" LOL!

You mentioned need for maintenance for tanks (equipment) in storage. There are multiple "levels" of storage, depending on how fast you want to get the equipment working. For fastest recovery you have to have people working on it monthly. Starting it periodically, running all the systems, periodically changing fluids and filters, moving them so soft parts don't develop "flat spots", turning them around so rubber on one side only is not always exposed to sun (that was one problem for russia when the 40 mile convoy to Kyev had lots of flat tires, also cheap junky tires). The US does maintenance, russia doesn't. They pay for it, but the work is not done. US stores tanks (aircraft) in the warm, dry desert. russia stores them in Siberia and various other wet and cold places. Places that actually require more maintenance than desert. And due to corruption in russian military, they tend to strip parts and sell them for extra money. For example, Spain had a bunch of Leopard tanks they wanted to donate to Ukraine. First Germany said no, but later they withdrew the offer because they later discovered the tanks required too much repair work to make them usable.

fun facts: T-62-M, T-55-AM, T-10M, SU-122-54, IS-2M tanks, remained in service until the 1990s

Yet, here in paraguay we still have M3 stuarts and shermans in active service

India still has T-54/55 (modernized ones) and Vijayanta (Vickers MBT with modifications) in reserves.

Poland is storing some 800 of old T-72s. They tried to get some operational to form a new tank brigade. After 4 years of failed attempts decided that it would be faster and more cost effective to buy M1 Abrams and throw the surplus out the window.

....you only get 2000 miles out of a set of tracks...that is insane

I imagine that with a plow attached, these old tanks would be great to clear snow from the road's.

After Operation Desert Storm the US cut its armor in Europe by 1/3 and drew down the active-duty personnel. The dissolved Soviet Union did the same thing. Meanwhile they began upgrading their guns and armor, and the tanks that stayed in active duty began a various system technology climb. This has not really changed much, and Afghanistan was not a tank war. Strikers and hummers were used for infantry support and movement, with various gun trucks. They were taking excess M60's pot to the Pacific and dumping the stripped bodies off boats to make artificial reefs.

I like the idea the Germans had in WW2. Melt down the chassis and keep the turret and place it as a static defense in the ground. I’m speaking from complete ignorance but I think it would be pretty nice for infantry units in static defensive positions to have MORE firepower that has a lot more protection than just a bunker. You’d save money on the upkeep, keep the gun, improve your defenses even just a little bit, and create more materials for other projects.

5:17 - I see the connection now! Ryanair was (definitely) created by former D-Day survivor Pvt. Ryan, and he is a pilot trainer for the Air Force and his own company. Him being an infantryman probably explains why these pilots never heard of flaring. Seriously though, some former mechanic for some branch of the US Military said, "combat vehicles are abused to all hell, even jets". He was not kidding, at the same time the structural strength of these heavy cargos is amazing. Though to be fair, I'm pretty sure the real reason the pilot didn't flare too much was because he wanted to stop as quickly as possible on that probably short dirt runway.

I know the British Army had 408 Challenger 2's delivered (227 in service as of 2016, 59 used for training and remainder held in storage) and 137 will be upgraded to Challenger 3 The rest will go into storage.

I see that Pakistan has bought Serbian updated T55s, which makes complete sense. Superior optics and new armour on a light (relative) tank makes it more useful as a counter insurgency tool. Right tool for the right job.

5:29 someone really likes their job

Werid how I already sort of learned that leson. In Vicky II, mobilized conscripts are always basic infantry, a good trick is to keep standing half-armies of support units ready for them, but how many of those can you afford waiting years for a big war? The answer is never enough, not to mention you also have a professional army to take care of.

07:14 - Using trolley as a scooter. 👌🤣

As an ex Abrams M1A1 crewmember I can answer this easily without watching the video: Tanks suck. They are NOT easy to upkeep. They are NOT long lasting. They break down constantly. You hit the wrong button while it runs, it catches fire. The engines are fragile. The internals breakdown constantly.The hoses are cheap and decay/leak quickly. The electronics an wire harnesses rot. They are old tanks just refurbished again and again. They don't build new tanks. They just cannibalize 3 tanks to refurbish 1 tank. That's why the numbers of tanks decrease. When I was in we started with 30. Then decommissioned and harvested parts of 10 of them dropping us to 20. I've heard since I been out they have taken 5 for parts reducing down to 15 for the unit.

Russia has many T80's stored for use in cold weather. The gas turbine engine is perfectly suited to winter operations 😎

Romania and Ukraine does store T-55 era tech. Looks good on global fire power...

When i was conscript in the german army in the 80s our heavy infantry company had M48 and 120mm mortars... In a storage area there was another whole batallion including many M48 preserved in foil. One of the tanks broke and we got one from that storage. It broke on the few kilometers to our place and was salvaged to repair the one that broke first. Tank batallions in the same barracks had Leopards.

C'mon Binkov, give us something on the Ukraine situation mate! Regardless of your affiliation, I'd love to hear your perspective, or even a balanced perspective.

Even keeping an army, is expensive.

Keeping old tanks are a waste of resources, period. Unless you spend the money on upgrading the armor, gun, ammo, and engine on an older vehicle, it is just not feasible on the battle field. Would YOU climb into a T-55 and move out to hold the line against the M1 SERP?

We don’t store old tanks in the US anymore because in San Diego an addict ruined it for everyone when he stole one and mobbed around like it was a monster truck

-- Well you have to have the air, before the tank. Hand launched systems make that even more difficult. But if you need to move fast on the ground with a lot of firepower, I think the tank is going to be around for awhile. Really no black and white answer here, as it should be.

The indians still use heavily upgraded version of the T72. And the old t55 is used for mine plugging work

Very informative Binkov, food for thought there. Merry Christmas 🌲

Tanks a lot Binkov!

American storing tactics: Let's regulate everything and make everything transparent! Just in case we will need it in some sort of mass scale conflict. Russian storing tactics: Let's sell everything we can rip out of frames and bribe officers to pass inspections. There will be no mass scale conflict anyway!

Oh man, to the soldier at 7:20, i hope his CO didnt watch the footage and give him a reprimand for using a munitions cart as an unapproved form of base transportation.😅

All good points, best I can tell. Thanks for the clarity!

Excellent video - thanks a lot. Really interesting. It's always interesting seeing how tactics change when technology changes.

Binkov - Best Manscaped Ads ever,,,

Russia is using old t-62 tanks right now in Ukraine war, many of those t-62 are not eve m version (modernized) , same with bmp1 etc

Great video! I admire the effort put into the research.

In this era of drones, Old tanks could be used be used as bait to draw fire away from the real tanks and to set up ambush.

swiss armed force have a armor brigade with only conscripted troup in it... (21 week of training in total)

I have often wondered why US military doesn’t take its M 60s, and captured Iraqi tanks like T 72s, as well as APCs, artillery pieces, RPGs , machine gun and small arms and simply store them until a crisis arises somewhere in the world such as Taiwan or Ukraine. I have to think that any of these tanks in defensive positions would be of immense value to these countries in warding off an invasion and in gorilla warfare. I’m sure the Ukrainians would be thrilled to have a couple hundred M 60s hidden along main invasion routes, as the Russians amass forces on three sides of the country. It seems even relatively inexperienced tank crews could Wreak havoc against softer targets in a Russian Column like APCs, personnel and fuel trucks.

Outstanding understanding of military doctrine. But, love your final message about unity even more! GREAT job, Binkov!

I was tanker , most expensive and most capable vehicle I've ever been on Keep your knives sharp kids ! Great Job Binko !

Because it's too low BR and they know better..

7:15 homie on the cart was MOVIN

I agree with you, one thing most people don't realize it's not just the tank but the support equipment that repairs the tanks that also have to be maintained and there has to be people who are proficient in repairing the tanks, test sets and related systems. Then there's the parts issue, of sensitive electronics that are most likely not produced anymore, you have to store those in a warehouse that also has to be maintained and manned, meaning someone has to be there to know where the parts are, maintain the building and you have to pay that person to do it. So lets say a stored tank is brought out of storage to be used. You have to repair it and before you can do that you have to train someone to do those repairs and you have to bring all the old test sets out of storage and fix those test sets, then someone has to know how to use them as well. If you think tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks are bad, wait until you get to those old planes jet engines and avionics. Where are you going to get the people with experience to not only fly those planes but repair them when they break down. And where are you going to store and set up the equipment on the ships or shore station avionics repair shops when they're already full of equipment to maintain the current equipment? This is why the military wants to retire older equipment so that they don't have to spend double the money on old and new equipment at the same time when they can just spend it on acquiring more new equipment. However their does need to be a balance and an overlap of old and new equipment storage, repair and parts capabilities. So storing old equipment isn't as easy as some folks think, it cost money and when you pull it out you have to have the experienced personnel capable of using and repairing the equipment as well as the needed support equipment. Thanks for sharing Binkov. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya AT1 USN/USNR-TAR Retired

They could sell those tanks at a bargain price to not so rich allied countries.

Soooooo It APPEARS the hardware is not even brought home anymore. Just leave the keys and 55 billion in gadgets for anyone to use. Must save lots of cash not having to salvage them.

He who controls the skies controls the war. We have an old M60 where I live. It just sits there by the firehouse rusting away. The Warthog strafes with 30mm.

The tanks are still stored, but not counted. They are stored as static displays around the country, owned by the Army. A running M60 was recently added to our local WW2 static display tanks, in our war memorial park. All those tanks are still owned by the Army, but not counted as active. Even the old WW2 tanks, still have their engines installed and are complete. Several armored personel carriers are also displayed in my area.

7:22 guy going wheeeeee

Vietnam still stores T34-85 and such older equipment, just in case.

Binkov: Why No one Storing Old Tank Meanwhile, Somewhere in Middle East War: "WW1 & WW2 TANK GO BRRR..."

Yet again, an interesting question with a comprehensive answer. Thank you!