Big_Z, nice military answer, feels like a warlord talking...
But you shouldnt speak like these warlords who arent human anymore... You should speak like wise people like Sun Tzu.
Mechanized units have more firepower. But they cost more. So they are inferior when it comes to economy.
And the firepower, like you said, can give them the ability to wipe out whole cities from the map. Is it a good thing? Of course not. With this much firepower, you will be more dangerous to the enemy, and he might hide next to civilians and innocent people... And then, boum, you lost the war because you used the holy power of turning whole towns into swiss cheese...
And then, there is the arrogance that comes with the people who hold such power. Once you have this overwhelming firepower, you will feel the need to use it growing. You will start to wage bogus wars for power...
A bit like Germany with their Blitzkrieg tactics... They took out a big part of Europe and threatened the world. And then, a few years later, their wives and sisters were rapped in mass by communist scum coming from the USSR...
And let's speak about protection... Protection means also weight. And then, you cant follow your enemies in the moutains and any rough terrain in fact... And then, you will be unable to fight this enemy because you got used to the warm and safe fortresses... Why should we fight and care about the people who are in danger when we can hide in a fortress and drink beer?
And about reconnaissance equipment... These are sweet toys. But why should we speak to people and learn to live with them when we can observe them with high tech thermals, satellites etc...
And then, these nice hightech cameras can be used to make kick ass videos to put on youtube... And then, we can add hardrock music for tunes, and piss off all the peace loving people on the whole planet...
And then, we can get angry when some Wikileaks like liberal idiots leak the videos of our hightech toys operated by human beings who make errors like mistaking a journalist with a camera with a terrorist with an RPG... And shooting a few seconds later into a crowd of terrorists wearing white shirts...
I know, I'm being a jerk... But you guys speak about intelligence so much, you are smart for sure. But what about wisdom?
Do you see the difference between being smart and being wise? They are not always compatible...
And especially to our high tech, high firepower western armies... We win battles and lose wars for so long that it's time to ask ourselves some questions...
We cared for firepower so much, that we both lost in Vietnam... Professional armies had their asses handed to them by peasants...