Armata Main Battle Tank - Early Speculation
Rumors of the new tank have been circulating since the end of the Cold War. It was reportedly to have been adopted for service as early as 1994. There is also a hypothetical description of the tank. It is supposed to have an engine of no less than 1,500 hp, most likely multi-fueled and diesel-powered; a cannon 135 mm in caliber; active protection; and a control system that can be incorporated into the "digital battlefield" system. Its hull and turret are made of composite armor.
Sergei Mayev, head of the Federal Service for Defense Contracts (Rosoboronzakaz) told a news conference in July 2008 that the Russian Armed Forces would start receiving new-generation tanks superior to the T-90 main battle tank after 2010. The new tank would feature better firepower, maneuverability, electronics and armor protection than the T-90 MBT. Its speed will increase from 30-50 kph to 50-65 kph (19-31 mph to 31-40 mph). According to some sources, the new tank may be equipped with a 152-mm smoothbore gun capable of firing guided missiles with a range of 6,000-7,000 meters. In comparison, the T-90 MBT has a 125-mm 2A46M smoothbore gun, which can fire AT-11 Sniper anti-tank guided missiles with a range of 4,000 meters.
Russia will complete the first prototype of the new 65 ton Armata main battle tank by 2013 and begin production and deliveries to the Russian Armed Forces in 2015, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and the CEO of tank manufacturer Uralvagonzavod Oleg Sienko told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Lenta.ru news portal reported 17 February 2012. Uralvagonzavod and the military were testing the main components of the new tank. No other details were reported. Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry has signed a contract worth six billion rubles with Uralvagonzavod to upgrade 170 T-72 main battle tanks, to be carried out at a specially prepared facility in Omsk, Lenta.ru said.
“The Russian armed forces will have a new main tank with fundamentally new characteristics, fully automated loading and separate crew compartment by 2015,” Lieutenant-General Yuri Kovalenko, former First Deputy Head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Automotive Armor Directorate said in April 2011. Kovalenko said work from other projects, including Object 195 and Black Eagle, will be incorporated in Armata's design. Presumably, in the autoloader tank created by the project "Armata", will be 32 rounds for various purposes. In the development of machines will be used achievements obtained during the implementation of other projects, including "Object 195" and "Black Eagle".
Russia’s future main battle tank (MBT) will be equipped with a remotely controlled gun, the Izvestia newspaper said 26 March 2012, citing a defense industry source. The gun will be digitally controlled by a crewmember located in a separate compartment, which would be made from composite materials and protected by multi-layered armor. The crew compartment will be also isolated from the motor compartment to increase survivability on the battlefield. The secret project, dubbed Armata, has been approved by the Russian Defense Ministry. It is being implemented by the tank manufacturer Uralvagonzavod in Russia’s Urals region.
Work from other projects, including Object 195 and Black Eagle, would be incorporated in Armata's design. The prototype of Armata MBT was expected to be ready by 2013. The first deliveries to the Russian Armed Forces were scheduled for 2015. Russian experts believe that the appearance of the remotely controlled gun would eventually lead to the development of a fully robotic tank which could be deployed as part of a spearhead in the offensive.
Several prototypes of the Armata, to become Russia’s main battle tank, were privately shown to the country’s leadership during an arms expo in September 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said 09 July 2013. The tank, expected to enter the military in 2015, will 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 Armata will be unveiled during a closed showing at the Nizhny Tagil arms expo,” Rogozin said on Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio. “Several prototypes will be shown exclusively to the Russian leadership.”
The development of Russia’s new-generation main battle tank will be completed in 2015, and mass production is slated to being in 2016, the tank maker said 20 November 2013. Russia’s leadership had already seen a secret prototype of the new tank, dubbed the Armata and expected to become the armored core of the Russian army. “We are moving to the next R&D stage of the project, to be finished in 2015,” said Vyacheslav Khalitov, deputy general director of the Urals-based Uralvagonzavod state-run corporation. “The start of production in line with planned capacity is expected in 2016,” Khalitov said. The official said three Armata prototypes were currently being tested, and production of the tank would start even before the end of the R&D work.
About 2,300 Armatas were expected to be delivered to the military by 2020. But too many problems exist in the defense sector and in tank building specifically. There is little confidence, therefore, that plans for the new tank and its mass production will be translated into reality, at least not in the timeline announced. "Armata" is a project for development of a universal platform for the various armored vehicles, including tank support combat vehicle, and self-propelled artillery.
Photo of the newest armored vehicles, including tanks "Armata", began to appear on the Internet in March 2015. Then on 21 April 2015, the ministry official showed tanks and infantry fighting vehicles on the platform "Armata", as well as armored vehicles on the platform "Kurganets-25" and a number of other promising developments that the military promised to show on Red Square on May 9. From the materials the Defense Ministry showed that on May 9 Red Square will travel ten tanks and infantry fighting vehicles based on "Armata", ten armored personnel carriers and combat vehicles on the platform "Kurganets-25", as well as seven cars antitank missile system "Kornet- D" and eight self-propelled artillery "Koaliatsiya-SV".
A manufacturer in Novosibirsk started batch production of ceramic armor components for the family of new generation armored vehicles. "Ceramic armor testing has been completed this year. All expected properties have been confirmed. Batch production has begun," the chief of the ceramic armour bureau NEVZ-Ceramics, Andrey Nikitin, told TASS on the sidelines of the 3rd international forum Tekhnoprom on 05 June 2015.
He did not disclose any production statistics. Ceramic armor components will be used for combat vehicles based on the Armata, Kurganets and Boomerang platforms. The vehicles displayed at the V-Day May 9 parade in Moscow were equipped with ceramic armor elements.
Nikitin said that combined ceramic-steel armour plates enhance the armored vehicle’s protection 50% in contrast to that of their full metal counterparts. "For instance, a 24 mm armor roller is capable of withstanding the impact of a 14.5 mm bullet," he said. Also, the vehicle’s mass and ground pressure go down significantly noticeably enhancing its cross-country capacity.
Engine power for the new Russian Armata tank will be increased from 1.5 thousand to 1.8 thousand horsepower. This was stated by Director General of “Uralvagonzavod” Oleg Siyenko in an interview September 2015 to ‘Rossiyskaya Gazeta.’ “Currently the (engine) has been created but the new invention is confidential. I can only say that the work on engine completion continues,” Siyenko said.
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