Armata Universal Combat Platform

The Armata Universal Combat Platform is a unified heavy platform created for a variety of armoured vehicles, standing next to the medium class Boomerang and Kurganets, as well as light Typhoon. The purpose of the new machine, "Armata" is the creation of a single chassis that would be the same for all the army tracked armored vehicles, including standard engine-transmission installation, chassis controls, driver interface, unified set of onboard electronics, life-support systems. This level of harmonization, at present, has no analogues in weapons systems abroad. There are two major variants of the Armata, the T-14 tank with the engine aft, and the others which have the engine in the front of the chassis (E & P or ZMTO).

By early 2016, less than a year since the May 2015 victory parade, it has become clear that massive implementation of this technology cannot be expected in the near future. Until 2020, only individual units will be equipped with the T-14 Armata. For now, a pilot test-batch of 20 tanks is being produced. Their trial operation by the troops should identify shortcomings, which subsequently can be eliminated before bulk purchases take place. The delivery of T-15 armored personnel carriers and Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled artillery platforms will probably start either simultaneously, or somewhat later after the T-14 tanks. The unified platform heavy cipher "Armata" [Armada] (Index NBTU - Object 198) is a prospective Russian heavy crawler platform fourth generation , developed Uralvagonzavod from 2009-2010. Based on a unified "Armata" platform it is planned to create a main nattle tank, infantry fighting vehicle, a heavy armored vehicle, tank support combat vehicle, armored repair and recovery vehicle, the chassis for self-propelled artillery, and others.

Armata will serve as a common base for a series of armored combat vehicles. The chassis will be used to develop the main tank, armored infantry and heavy armored vehicle, military vehicle tank support, new armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery, and even a fully automated drone tank. The common chassis will make production and maintenance easier and cheaper.

The creation of the new Armata tank hasn't yet been completed, but ultimately it will meet the requirements of the customers, among other things in the question of price, vice-chairman of Russia's Military-Industrial Commission board Oleg Bochkaryov said 16 December 2014. Earlier media reports said that the military criticize the tank for its price being too high. The manufacturer said it would work on lowering the price. It was also reported that the first Armata will be will be produced by the end of the year, and on May 9 the new tanks will take part in the Victory Day parade in Moscow.

The Armata is designed as a modular universal combat platform that could be used as a basis for a variety of combat vehicles, including fire support, mine clearing, heavy flame throwing and bridge laying vehicles. Although the new tank remains top-secret, Uralvagonzavod has said that its design incorporates elements seen in other projects, including Object 195 and Black Eagle. It will also reportedly feature a remotely controlled gun and fully automated loading, as well as a separate crew compartment made from composite materials and protected by multilayered armor. The Defense Ministry said the Russian Ground Forces will get 2,300 Armatas by 2020.

The delivery of T-15 armored personnel carriers and Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled artillery platforms will probably start either simultaneously, or somewhat later after the T-14 tanks.

Armata - Variants

• T-14 - Main battle tank, Industrial designation "Object 148".
• T-15 - heavy IFV, Industrial designation "Object 149". The T-15, Kurganets and Bumerang, in their IFV variants, all share the Epoch-Almaty unmanned, remotely operated turret, armed with a 30mm gun with coaxial 7.62 machine gun and with two twin pods of Kornet anti-tank missiles.
• T-16 - Armata Armored Recovery Vehicle aka T-16 BREM-T been developed to provide support for Armata universal combat platform vehicles such as T-14 152-mm cannon 2A83, as proposed in the "Object 195",
• Tank-Killer - According to Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) deputy director Vyacheslav Khalitov, UVZ is considering a tank variant armed with a 152mm cannon, bigger than the 125mm cannon used in T-14. “The 152mm caliber is pretty effective and doesn't require special ammo to deal with armor. A 152mm shell's kinetic energy is high enough to just blow a turret away. So this is a promising direction and we are considering it,” he said. The main drawback of the gigantic 152mm is the huge size of the ammunition. If a fully automated system was not as concerned as a human loader by the weight and bulk of the shells, it is still true that the sheer massiveness of the projectiles inexorably means carrying fewer rounds.
• 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV: Self-propelled gun. The 2S35s on display during the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade and its rehearsals were not built on the Armata platform but rather a six-wheeled T-90 derived chassis (with six wheels, Armata has 7), with a heavily modified hull with all three members of the crew sitting in the front. It was not immediately clear whether a move to a pure Armata base is still envisaged.
• BMO-2 / BM-2 (TOS-2) / LMC-2 - short range rocket artillery, similar to flamethrower system TOS-1 Buratino. This proposal to replaced the heavy APC BMO-T, a T-72 chassis with an armored "box" to carry, under thick armor protection, a team of up to 7 soldiers armed with RPO thermobaric / incendiary rockets (these are classed as "flamethrowers" by the Russian army). In the industry brochure about the proposed BMO-2, the Armata derived vehicle is armed with a large remotely operated turret with a 30 mm gun and two boxes of rockets, for 24 rounds which can be fired from under armor. Fighting Vehicle heavy flamethrower system (replacement of all known TOS-1 "Buratino" and TOS-1A "sun")
• TPM-2 - Freight loading vehicle heavy flamethrower system
• IIM-A - The multi-purpose machine engineering. In 2015 a contract was signed to build prototypes of new breaching vehicle, to be trialed in 2017, to eventually replace the current armored bulldozer IMR-3 (on T-90 chassis).
• MT-A - armored vehicle launched bridge
• TCP-A - Floating conveyor (based on components and assemblies TGUP "Armata").
• UMP-A - Universal minelayer. In 2015 a contract was signed to build prototypes of new mine-clearing vehicles, to be trialed in 2017, to eventually replace the current BAT-M and BAT 2 combat engineer tractors.
• USM-A1 - Universal mining system
• A mortar carrier which uses the 2S12A Sani or the 2B11 Sani.

Although Russia was experimenting with a common track chassis, these systems are not being proposed for use in the Russian Airborne, as they were introducing their own new tracked armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles (BTR-MDM & BMP-4) that were not based the Armata chassis. Russia’s efforts at expanding standardization apparently only extended to tracked vehicles, as by 2015 it was still experimenting with a number of old and new wheeled chassis designs.

At the fourth Army-2018 international defense forum in August 2018, the ministry signed a deal on purchasing 132 next generation T-14 battle tanks and T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicles based on the Armata military tracked vehicle platform. The deal is expected to be fully implemented by late 2021. In late December 2018, the Defence Ministry announced that state trials of Russia's T-14 Armata battle tank were scheduled to begin in 2019.

The deliveries to the Russian army of armored vehicles on the new Armata platform have not yet begun, said Rostec head Sergei Chemezov. "No, not yet," he told reporters 15 January 2020. The Uralvagonzavod Corporation (Rostec) developed the Armata heavy tracked platform. On its basis, the T-14 tank, the T-15 infantry fighting vehicle and the T-16 armored recovery vehicle were created. Equipment on the Armata platform is being tested. Equipment on the Armata platform takes part in the Victory Parade on May 9 in Moscow. In 2018, at the Army forum, Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Krivoruchko said that in 2018 the military were to receive the first nine serial armored vehicles on the Armata platform. "As of today, a contract has been signed for 132 vehicles - T-14 (tank) and T-15 (BMP). Until the end of 2021, the first contract will be completed," Krivoruchko said at the time.