History Main / TanksButNoTanks

* Ironically despite being BackedByThePentagon, ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' has a tank filled with M60 Pattons which were phased out in the 90's instead of more appropriate M1 Abrams tanks. Brawl is also a fictional mock-up of an Abrams [[PropRecycling the same one]] used in ''Film/{{xXx State Of The Union}}'' with the addition of the two missile pods and the mine pushers.

* The remake of the World War II film ''Die Brücke'' used Swiss Panzer 68s as stand-ins for the M4 Shermans. While the tanks look suitably "old", they do not look like Shermans, and Shermans also didn't have multiple countermeasure pods and other, "modern" stuff attached to them. What's even more ridiculous: later in the movie, an M4 Sherman can be seen. Why the heck didn't they use it in the first place?

* ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' had 2/3 scale mock-ups of Tiger tanks based on the chassis of Soviet T-34s and almost genuine (see below) Marder III tank destroyers (confusingly referred to as "panzers" by the Americans, but then, see RealLife below to see why they're not wrong). A 20mm flak gun deserves mention as well; often encountered during the war, never before seen in a movie. The half-tracks were mostly Czechoslovakian copies of the German [=Sdkf 250=] built after the war and the assault guns were based on post-war British [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier FV432]] chassis. The vehicles representing Marder [=IIIs=] were modified Czechoslovakian Panzer 38(t)s (one of them a Swedish licence-built model). This was in fact the vehicle that the Marder III was based on in the first place, for bonus recursive accuracy points. While the Marders may seem tactically out-of-place (poorly-armoured tank destroyers have no business taking on infantry units in urban settings, after all), tank destroyers and artillery vehicles were occasionally deployed in the infantry support role when more conventional tanks or dedicated ''Sturmgeschutz'' armoured vehicles were not available. All said, it is reasonably justifiable, especially considering that the ''Heer'' units just behind the beaches had an absolute parking lot of old armoured vehicles and a Marder (of any type) would be one of the BETTER ones available.

* The remake of the Second World War film ''Die Brücke'' used Swiss Panzer 68s as stand-ins for the M4 Shermans. While the tanks look suitably "old", they do not look like Shermans, and Shermans also didn't have multiple countermeasure pods and other, "modern" stuff attached to them. What's even more ridiculous: later in the movie, an M4 Sherman can be seen. Why the heck didn't they use it in the first place?

Then there's the matter of RealLife politics, where vehicles you'd ideally want for realism simply can't be obtained at all since they're currently being used or held by an unfriendly power. It's easily forgotten today that prior to Soviet collapse, getting realistic Soviet or Eastern Bloc military vehicles for filming many a UsefulNotes/ColdWar thriller was darn near impossible unless you were an Eastern Bloc filmmaker. Whereas today, you can just phone the Russians and ask them nicely (and offer to pay cash up front).

* The Rhino in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' franchise has always been referred to as a tank. However, its earliest designs (the ones that appeared in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'') have wheels rather than tracks presumably because of engine limitations, making it look more like an APC or tank destroyer. Most of the "3D-era" games also use a cartoony and fictional model that, if anything, bears more of a resemblance to the German Fuchs APC than a real tank (the pre-release model was, in fact, just a Fuchs with a turret slapped on, and the resemblance is still there in the front of the release model); ''San Andreas'' would remodel it to more closely resemble the M1 Abrams, but ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories Liberty City Stories]]'' on through ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoChinatownWars Chinatown Wars]]'' would go back to ''[=GTA3=]''[='=]s model.

NOTE: This is NOT to be confused with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7kX9-QC5j4 This game right here]].

** The first game used upgunned M2 Bradley [=IFVs=] as the Brotherhood of Nod's "Light tank" (although Nod's modifications appears to have removed the infantry-carrying capacity[[note]]the game has the mechanical ability to let combat vehicles carry infantry -- it is used by the APC -- and at least part of the dev team were aware that Bradleys were [=IFVs=] as ''GDI'' is seen using them as exactly that in one cinematic[[/note]], so by some definitions they ''would'' be tanks). ''Renegade'' changed them into small (and quite low-profile) tanks.

** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' provides the Allied Prism Tank (an artillery vehicle) and Yuri's Gattling (sic) Tank (an anti-personnel and anti-air light vehicle), the latter of which precedes ''Generals'''s mistake with China's Gattling (sic) Tanks[[note]]admittedly, the Red Alert timeline diverged after the term tank was introduced but before its definition was nailed down, so it does have a possible excuse[[/note]].
* The Basilisk the Aldecaldos can get their hands on in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' is, as several characters note, an floating armored cargo transport with some self-defense weaponry that's also obsolete outside third-rate militaries, but considering the [[NormalFishInATinyPond things it's going against aren't more dangerous than some desert raiders and their vehicles]], everyone treats it as they would a normal tank.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' has an early level where you need to take out "Flak Panzers" that are really Möbelwagens. Not an example itself due to details mentioned in the Real Life folder, but what makes it become this trope is they are all armed Flakvierling 38s when in reality only one prototype used one of these before the Germans decided on the FlaK 43.
** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' features several destroyed Tiger II tanks in the level set in Stalingrad 1942 [[AnachronismStew a full 2 years before the real Tiger II entered service]]. It was not even on the drawling board in 1942. A later level has the player control of what is called in-game a [=T-34-85=] despite A) you are playing a rifleman, and a ''private'' at that; and B) the tank has a [[KillItWithFire flamethrower]], meaning it is an [=OT-34-85=].

* The Rhino in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' franchise has always been referred to as a tank. However, its earliest designs (the ones that appeared in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'') have wheels rather than tracks, making it look more like an APC or tank destroyer.

** The first game used upgunned M2 Bradley [=IFVs=] as the Brotherhood of Nod's "Light tank". ''Renegade'' changed them into small (and quite low-profile) tanks.

* Averted by ''VideoGame/GhostReconAdvancedWarfighter'', which correctly differentiates tanks, APC's, IFV's, and mobile artillery.

** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' features several destroyed Tiger II tanks in the level set in Stalingrad 1942 [[AnachronismStew a full 2 years before the real Tiger II entered service]] It was not even on the drawling board in 1942. A later has the player control a what is called in-game a [=T-34-85=] despite A. you are playing a rifleman and a ''Private'' at that and B. The Tank has a [[KillItWithFire flamethrower]] meaning it is an [=OT-34-85=].
** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'' has one in the level Demon Within where [[spoiler: The player is in the DyingDream of Sarah Hall ]] and gets transported to the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle Of The Bulge]] and faces off against a Tiger II one point [[spoiler: Hall]] refers to it as if it were a standard Tiger tank but at the same time references its nickname the King Tiger.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Vietcong}}'', [[spoiler:The old French armored cars are called "tanks" for some reason.]] Not to mention the [=T-34-76s=] used by the NVA, when they should be using [=T-34-85s=], and M50 Ontos tank destroyers in the second game.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has The Rhino being modeled on an actual tank, however it still falls into this trap thanks to the description from an in-game website mistaking which tank was modeled for the game. The website unmistakably describes an [=M1=] Abrams with references to a weight of 60 tons, a 1,500hp turbine engine, a 120mm cannon and the line [[{{Irony}} "One of the few vehicles still manufactured in America"]]. The Rhino is actually modeled on the Leopard [=2A4=], which despite having the 120mm cannon [[note]] which was developed for the Leopard tank first then used on the Abrams [[/note]] is different in every other detail in the description. The Leopard 2 uses a 1,479hp [=V12=] Diesel engine, has a weight of 68 tons, and is made in Germany.

** This was actually a common occurrence in real life, since most Allied soldiers were ignorant of the different German tank models or how common each type was, and if they saw a panzer approaching they would be quick to see it as whatever they were most afraid of, which was the Tiger. As Nick Moran points out in "Myths of American Armor", the later Panzer IVs (specifically the H and J models) had blocky shapes, plus extra turret skirts and long guns with a large muzzle brake which made them look superficially similar to a Tiger at a distance, and if a guy sees that through his telescope he’s going to think "TIGER!" and start frantically reacting instead of sitting there counting the number of road wheels on it to make sure.

** This is also true of the Merkava IV [[MilitaryMashupMachine Tank]][[CombatMedic bulance]], which is a tank equipped to be an ambulance. Since it still retains its original armament it isn't protected by the Geneva conventions, and can therefore be engaged by the enemy. Admittedly, its thick armour and a 120mm cannon don't exactly mean it's a sitting duck...But given that the type of enemies that the IDF would fight aren't exactly mindful of the Geneva Convention, it is an example of CombatPragmatism at its finest.

Not helping matters, of course, is that the lines between "tank" and "not a tank" have become blurred to varying degrees at varying times, even as far back as World War One. The very first tank, for example, did not have a fully rotating turret, but instead a pair of sponson half-turrets, one on each side. Many of the tanks in World War One only had machine guns rather than any cannon-sized weapons. Tank destroyers in the Second World War varied from not having any turret to having a fully rotating turret but no roof, or even a fully rotating turret with an unenclosed roof. In modern times, Infantry Fighting Vehicles are both more heavily armed and heavily armored than any of the tanks in the First World War, looking similar to tanks but having much smaller cannons and less protection.

** ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' also runs into this in the final battle with footage being shown of [=M1A2=] Abrams being transported on Marine hovercraft only for the NEST team being seen supported by [=M1A1=] Abrams and M2 Bradley [=IFVs=] (the latter of which are are used by the Army, The Marines still the M113 APC).

** ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' also runs into this in the final battle with footage being shown of [=M1A2=] Abrams being transported on Marine hovercraft only for the NEST team being seen supported by [=M1A1=] Abrams and M2 Bradley IFVs (the latter of which are are used by the Army, The Marines still the M113 APC).

[[{{Pun}} Tank Goodness somebody noticed!]]

TankGoodness [[{{Pun}} somebody noticed!]]

* ''Film/SeventyOneIntoTheFire'', a Korean war film, curiously have the North Korean forces using an American M4AE8 Sherman tank against the ROK troops and the student soldiers. It's somewhat plausible that they could be using captured enemy equipment against their former owners, but it is more likely that on a meta level, they were standing-in for the more commonly used Russian T-34/85 medium tanks.

* Series/AlloAllo: In this [=WW2=]- set comedy series, Lieutenant Gruber's Little Tank is in reality an Sd Kfz 222 armoured car, and an absolutely genuine period vehicle dating from TheThirties that would have been built between 1937-1942, and seen service with German forces in [=WW2=]. It is possible the vehicle used in the series was captured by British forces in North Africa, and the museum where it resides loaned it to the Creator/{{BBC}}} for filming.

* The designation does get confusing with the Swedish Stridsvagn 103, which is also unofficially known as the S-tank even though its configuration (no turret and hull-mounted main gun) was more like an older tank destroyer or self-propelled gun. Officially it is still classified as a main battle tank. As two users from [[http://bbs.stardestroyer.net a certain forum]] put it:

* Ironically despite being BackedByThePentagon, ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' has a tank filled with M60 Pattons which were phased out in the 90's instead of more appropriate M1 Abrams tanks. Brawl is also a fictional mock-up of an Abrams [[PropRecycling the same one]] used in ''Film/xXxStateOfTheUnion'' with the addition of the two missile pods and the mine pushers.

* An odd example occurs in ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' when the Mecha pilots battle alien-possessed WWII German Tiger tanks from an abandoned tank factory [[CriticalResearchFailure in Kursk, Russia]].

* The 1992 Treaty On Conventional Armed Forces in Europe attempted to formalize the classifications a bit. An APC is a self-propelled armored vehicle with an integrated gun of less than 20 mm, an IFV was one with a gun of 20 mm or more (and usually also missiles), and a "battle tank" was one with an integrated gun of 75 mm or more. Both [=IFVs=] and [=APCs=] were further distinguished from battle tanks by the requirement that they're "designed and equipped primarily to transport a combat infantry squad", and that a battle tank had to be at least 16.5 tons while the APC and IFV classification had no weight limit. Self-propelled guns, weirdly, were not classified, though the battle tank classification did have its own requirements of "360-degree traverse gun" and "high self-protection" to seemingly avoid self-propelled guns being classified as such (as they tend to have non-rotating guns and thin armor comparable or inferior to [=APCs=]/[=IFVs=]).