Those interested in military technology, including tanks, will surely remember this video:
The images were produced and published by Uralvagonzavod, shortly after the Russian T-14 Armata tank made its public debut at the 2015 Victory Day parade.
A fully computer-generated video is primarily about being new russian armored platform how much better than any western tank, but specifically in this video, the weapon system takes on an American M1 Abrams tank and an AH-64 attack helicopter.
During the video, you can read statements such as
- thanks to its digital systems the Armata platform can detect enemy threats from 12 kilometers away, while the same distance from the “enemy tank” is 3.5 kilometers,
- 48 tons, It can reach a top speed of 90 kilometers per hourthe range of the vehicle is 500 kilometers, making it one of the most mobile general-purpose tanks in the world,
- its main weapon is a 125-millimeter or a 152-millimeter gun (the latter is an artillery caliber, so it can be assumed that it is also configured for indirect fire),
- theoretical rate of fire is 12 shots per minute (for Abrams it is 8 / minute),
- it is equipped with a 7.62 parallel machine gun and a 12.7 millimeter heavy machine gun controlled from the hull,
- the operating staff is only three people, moreover, the sight is not located in the turret, but manages the turret from the armored body (when the Armata was presented, it was the first such tank in the world),
- the operator is protected by protection equivalent to frontal armor with a thickness of 1000 millimeters (according to the video, the frontal armor is essentially impenetrable),
- the tank body is protected by a multi-stage Malahit passive and Afganit active protection system, which capable of repelling enemy attacks from all directions, in addition, the vehicle’s electronic system is capable of disrupting the target-seeking equipment of guided missiles,
- the tank is equipped with instruments that interfere with radars and other detection systems,
- defense system able to block the ignition system of tank mines,
- Armata’s digital system for operating personnel provides a 360-degree view around the tank, moreover, the fire control system can simultaneously identify 40 air and 25 land targets, even moving ones,
- the combat vehicle has guided missiles with up to 10 shrapnel-destroying charges can reach a range of up to 12 kilometers, moreover, it can also destroy helicopters with its guided missiles.
It is no wonder that reading these claims even the Western press reported the Armata as a “supertank,” which leaves all Western technology miles behind, including the legendary American Abrams tank, the British Challenger 2, or the German Leopard 2.
It seemed that the Armata was more advanced, faster, more firepower, and more survivable than any Western tank, and featured innovations that Western engineers could not even dream of.
The appearance of the above video and more than nine years have passed since the first presentation of the Armata. Russia started an open military invasion against Ukraine, and tanks played a key role in the operation, which the Russians referred to as a “special operation”, and are still playing to this day. The Russian army relies mostly on modernized T-72 tanks, and to a lesser extent on various T-80 and T-90 variants, although as the months pass, more and more T-62s and, indeed, a real Methuselah T-54 /55 goes to the battlefields of Ukraine.
To date, however, there is no conclusive evidence that even a single T-14 took part in the fighting in Ukraine, although the Russian Defense Ministry says the vehicle type has already been tested in the “special operations zone.”
If the Armata was really used in Ukraine, then even then only a minimal number took place within a controlled framework. This is also interesting because the Kremlin originally planned that the mass production of Armatas would begin in 2015, and that by 2020 there would already be 2,300 Armatas in service with the Russian armed forces. It is not known exactly how many Armatas the engineers of Uralvagonzavod have assembled so far, but the mass production and regularization has certainly not started yet. In the past, 8-12 tanks could be seen at the annual military parades, but today, like all other modern or quasi-modern tanks, the Armatas have disappeared from the Victory Day parade.
The official reason for the delay is that the Armata is too expensive. As the 2020s approached, the Russian military leadership came to the idea that it would be more worthwhile to further modernize the old Soviet tanks, and at the same time to gradually patch up the Armata’s design. in 2018 that decision was madethat the Armata will not completely replace the old, Soviet-origin tanks, in the short term, the Russian Ministry of Defense changed the order number to 132 pieces. But even these were not delivered.
132 tanks is considered quite a small amount by Russian standards. This number probably indicates that the majority of Russian tank formations will continue to rely on Soviet-derived technology, alongside modernized tanks, on the newly built T-90M, while Armatas will play specialized roles.
Now, in 2024, we are there, with completely different news about Armata coming almost every day:
- A British Ministry of Defence according to the completed Armatas turned out to be of very poor qualityRussian soldiers don’t like them and don’t want to use them, that’s why it probably won’t go into series productionthe tool will only be used for propaganda purposes.
- The Russian Rostyk according to a military industrial company the Armata is a good tank, but the main problem with it remains that it is simply too expensivethe money that Russia would spend on the development and serial production of the Armata can be much better utilized by producing more, less complex tanks.
- Sergio Miller is an American military industry expert according to the Armata program was essentially a complete failure, as the finished product became not only expensive but not even significantly better than the T-90M. According to Miller, if the Russians want to continue with the project, a complete redesign is needed.
- Meanwhile, the largest Bulgarian military industry newspaper, a Bulgarian Military writes about that not only did the Russian military leadership not give up the Armata program, but now they are experimenting with a new version equipped with a 152 millimeter gun.
All this is compounded by the fact that Rusboronexport, the company responsible for foreign trade of the Russian defense industry, announced at the Armija 2022 expo that they start spreading the T-14 platform on the international market. So far regarding the purchase of the tank he inquired Algeria, India, China, as well as three unnamed countries.
The option may also arise that the Armata would primarily, or even exclusively, be exported, it is not necessary that the Russian army would use modern tanks. This would also be somewhat logical: the Russian military industry could sell the expensive tanks with a nice margin, and they could use the proceeds to produce their own T-90st and vehicles that are in greater demand on the battlefield. Obviously, it is a question whether the Russians can do without the components used for the production of the Armata in the sanctions environment.
For now, however, it is almost certain that the Armata is not working. Specifically, it doesn’t work as well as what has been hyped about the tank:
it seems like he actually only knows a fraction of the skills that are shown in the video above.
So: even though it’s very expensive, it’s likely that it’s not nearly as much of an improvement to the tanking capabilities of the Russian army as, say, a cheaper and easier to manufacture / retrofit T-90M.
If nothing else, Western arms manufacturers can be grateful to Armata and Uralvagonzavod, since the tank so scared Western decision-makers in the middle of the decade that every major military power saw to it with full force the development of modern tanks and modern anti-tank devices. And this obviously means revenues of hundreds of millions and billions of dollars on the side of the arms manufacturers. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we have seen new tanks from both General Dynamics, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall, and this is only a small part of the entire portfolio, which may be aimed at fighting a fourth-generation tank, which is not even certain that it works.
The cover image is an illustration. Cover image source: Getty Images
Source: www.portfolio.hu
