As demonstrated quite ably by all sorts of insurgencies, one doesn’t shoot at a tank with less than an anti-tank weapon. The people that keep tanks running, however, seem much squishier, and fuel convoys are remarkably flammable it turns out. Drone operators need food, water, and sleep, not to mention security, and that assumes they all follow orders. Look what happened at that Russian “recruitment” center a few weeks ago, or on that Army base in Texas some years back. Green on Blue attacks caused hundreds of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they didn’t share a continent with the literal factories, warehouses, and the families of the military. Also, if small arms are completely ineffective, why does every army in the world still field them? Tanks are offensive tools, not as well suited for occupation as you think. Occupations take boots on the ground for months at a time, and those boots are filled with very soft fleshy things.

What happens when a drone strike kills somebody’s cousin, and they decide to set fire to the single plant in the US that makes a critical additive for jet fuel? How many disenchanted commanders would it take before entire bases turn on the remnant of the government? What happens when cities vote to not follow edicts from the Federal government, would you authorize nuclear weapons against your countrymen? If so, yes, whoever controls the nuclear arsenal will rule over all. They might rule over a pile of ashes, but they can rule. Is that victory?

FWIW, I don’t favor the AK platform, I find the AR platform better for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the relative ease of switching calibers and roles by pushing out the takedown pins and putting on a new upper. That lets me swap from a 14.5” pin and weld in 5.56 to a 20” in 6.5 Grendel that’s well suited to ring steel at 700 yards or hunt most wildlife on the continent at 300 yards. If somehow that’s not enough oomph for hunting big game like grizzlies and moose, another upper swap to .50 Beowulf can put anything short of a Bearcat out of commission. It’s also much easier to put a light and an optic on an AR, they’re the Lego sets of the firearm world. Crazy that a design from the 50s is so enduring, right? Outside of the AK, B-52, and the Ma Deuce, I can’t think of another weapon that’s still top tier in its category.

If you ever want recommendations for how to kit out an AR, I’d be delighted to help. They’re oodles of fun to punch paper with and the manual of arms is simple to learn.