Marines are abandoning tanks and are going for mobile forces with good tank busting capabilities.
I feel that armies what are leaning heavily on warmachines like tanks are preparing to fight yesterdays war where ATGMs, drones, cheap atgm's, and other things didn't exist... despite their strong armor tanks have heavy logistic footprint, expensive price tag (new tanks) whats only going up, etc. Also, in many places tanks are useless as they can't move due terrain not being suitable for such an heavy vehicles.
the marines got rid of tanks because they are a Expeditionary force and have air support they need.
also it all depends on your overall military organization. for offensive operations. what do we expect infantry to walk the long distances with their gear, body Armour, weapon and a AT launcher and all the rounds.
the Javelin launcher weighs 18.1 ibs even with the new light weigh new version (still 10.9 ibs). each missile is 8.5 lbs. that means a 9 man infantry squad could carry 1 launcher and 8 rounds on top of the 35 ibs IOTV, 5 ibs ACH, 35 ibs combat ruck and 5 ibs of cloths and boots not to mention water. how fast and far do you think they can travel in a day? for how long also. while on the offense.
unless you think they will just ride around in either M2, LMTV, M1113 ICV or HMMWV then dismount 1 k before their objective.
What happens if they have contact with tanks while in the back of a M2, LMTV, LAV-25, BRDM, BMP, BDM, KIFV, Warrior or some other vic will that AT weapon system help them. nope.
this notion that future warfare will only be in urban areas is crazy. or that there won't be operational offensive and counter attacks where over distances of more then 10 miles is nonsense.
also air power has always been the bane of tanks. Turkey not getting rid of their tanks. they have air dominance over Syria. and as far as drones that a simple solution to those. portable CREWS and ADA. but once again we look at a military like syria that has none of these things and draw a conclusion. yes tanks are at a disadvantage in urban areas. but guess what, so is Infantry and so are light armored vehicles. Tanks are a great assets in urban warfare if you know what you are doing as a military. same thing is true of infantry and light armored vehicles. it really takes a blend of the tree plus a lot of combat service and combat service support assets. and even then your foe can also have those assets in the defense.
