Why do countries hold onto old and obviously outdated equipment?

Why do countries hold onto old and obviously outdated equipment?

For example, Turkey is still using the goddamn M48 in 2019.

Attached: Platoon of M48A5T2 tanks cruising around during winter-2019 live fire exercise in Kars, Turkey.jpg (4928x3280, 1.12M)

Cost and functionality? What a stupid question.

An outdated tank is better than no tank at all if you don’t want to spend money on an upgrade.

What modern battlefield could the M48 possibly survive on?

Still good enough to survive bullets, apparently the M60s have done alright in Syria. No real reason to get rid of it if you don’t have anything better

One in which your enemy is using T-55s, technicals, or in which your enemy is using only infantry.

Don’t use it as an MBT, use it for infantry support. There you go, modern day functionality at a modest price.

When you get a little older, you’ll find out that economics is a critical part of warfare.

It just works

Local, low intensity conflicts. The T72 is still the most ubiquitous tank, and we still had grease guns in Gulf War 1. It goes bang, and protects from up to medium caliber artillery. The alternative would be to abandon them when they can't afford to. Rub two brain cells together, not all nations are America.

Slap on some era for partial rpg-7 protection and viola you now have a viable tank to take on african warlords or sand people at a fraction of the cost of a modern mbt

>Upgrade the armament and sights
>Put modern communications in
>Retrofit it's armour and put safeguards in for half the cost of production
who knows?

I have this same question about people who unironically use 3rd generation fighters

Attached: MiG-21.jpg (2048x1285, 142K)

it's affordable and good enough

>why would a military want a mobile gun platform which can support infantry by fire while strongpointing an area due to its increased protection
gee nigger, I dunno

Don't talk to me or my sons ever again.

>what is a long-term investment

The one against Kurd separatists.
Also not to be forgotten that historically half the purpose of the military of most muslim countries is to keep their own people in check.

Money
t. "1000 irreplaceable BMP-1" Pole

They're poor fags

Get rid of unworthy pilots

And waste enemy missiles

You don't need modern weapons to slaughter unarmed wyte women and children

Why do you need modern equipment if you don't intend to fight people who have it? You don't need to purchase Leos/Challys/Abrams/T-90s if you're only ever going to fight infantry with technicals and RPGs

you train guys who keep it going, check
you feed it gas and reproduce the simpler ammunition in your own country; check
you have a fucking tank thats long outlived its price for only cost of simple maintenance; triple check

a vehicle that costed them 200k in the past will long outlive itself as a mobile gun that drives itself and are usually put into ambush positions of high interest

either they're ambushed by villager rifles that cant hurt them, or they stick them in behind tree lines and wait for confirmation over the one way radio that its a target they fire at

I mean the worst thing they are going to fight with said Tanks is going to be Soviet Shit, and the 105mm is more then enough to deal with any Soviet tank that is used by their Neighbors. As for protection they probably have ERA packages designed for it.

The M48 is perfectly viable if you intend to use it like a Stryker MGS, Centauro or other "thing that carries a 105mm gun" rather than as a tank.

Because they go fast and can haul missiles/bombs

Most of them teebeeaych
Syria, Philippines, Mexico, North Africa, East Africa, Yemen, etc
Would fare no worse than any other tin pot medium tank puttering around those shitholes as is.

kek

Because most countries don't spend a trillion dollars on their military every year.

you don't need a modern tank to shit on rebels with aks

you don't need modern fighter to go chase away cessnas violating airspace

I'm no expert(I'd wager there aren't many on this board) but I'd imagine sometimes it's not worth trying to transport($$$) and sell old shit that can only still be maintained because you have people that are already familiar and experienced working on them. Parts may no longer be produced so you have to break down a group of 100 for parts to keep another 100 running.

Also, even if an armored vehicle or w.e. is outdated on the battlefield vs a major enemy, it may still be super useful during civil unrest/uprisings/rebels/coups or against under-equipped terrorists and such.

Finally, even on the main battlefield, even if an outdated tank wouldn't fair well against a more modern tank, it makes a good mobile artillery piece for shelling enemy buildings and positions and such. And if your own modern equipment gets knocked out early in a conflict, it's nice to at least have something for a backup. In many parts of the world life is cheap, so sending 3-5 guys out in outdated armored vehicles against poor odds is no big deal.