I've seen a documentary on Type-10 Japanese and K-2 Black Panther tanks if i'm not mistaken made in Korea. Rusian tank experts said these tanks are may be the best tanks all over the world now. The Type-10 has been call virtually undestroyable. Who knows something on the topic?
They both are very good tanks. However, it also has to be remembered that these tanks have a very slow production rate, and are hideously expensive. Whenever it comes to military equipment, it becomes a trade off between cost and productivity. Almost anybody can make a "best int he world" item, but if it takes to long to build or costs to much money, then how good is it really? Germany tried that, and look how well it worked out. Germany probably had the best tanks in WWII. But for every 1 they produced, the US made 100 more inexpensive and faster to manufacture Shermans. Peak M1 production was almost 1,000 units a year. Production of these tanks is in the range of 15 or so a year. And the cost is really high. These Asian tanks are from $8.5-11 million each. The M1 is much less, at around $6 million. So these may be the best tanks. But when faced with a 2 to 1 superiority in Abrams, or a 6-8 to one majority in T-90 tanks, and these tanks would not prove to be all that indestructable after all.
Germany started the fight against the Soviets without giving the Soviet TO&E a good going over. (Though, to be honest, after the Soviet perfromance in the Winter War, one can understand why the Nazis underestimated their chosen foe.) The T-34 and KV-series had the Nazis reacting to Soviet armor design rather than driving it. Our tanks were, at best, mediocre. We could make a lot of them, and between mass, air superiority and the Soviets bleeding the Nazis white, we managed to carry the day in the West. It wasn't until the advent of the M-26 that we even came close to matching Nazi tanks. You point, however, is well made. Mass counts.
