T-14 Armata - Program
After five years of development, the Uralvagonzavod Research and Production Corporation finalized manufacture of the first batch of Armata tanks and heavy personnel carriers. They were included in Russia’s 2015 defense order.
The new T-14 tank on the Armata platform was presented at a night-time parade rehearsal as soon as 27 March 2015, but arms experts were not able to learn much about it. The tank will appear in a camouflage that will distort it's silhouette and make it impossible to examine its exact configuration. The technique, practiced by car manufacturers to protect prospective models from espionage, will likely be adapted for the Armata. One existing technology to conceal a tank's shape is the Nakidka, developed by Moscow's Steel Research Institute, which also conceals a tank's thermal, infrared and radar signatures.
Russia's next-generation Armata main battle tank, shown to the public at the 2015 Victory Day parade in Moscow, would undergo state testing in 2016. The first 20 T-14 Armata main battle tanks were handed over to the military earlier in February 2016. It was initially thought that the new tank would be revealed then, but authorities decided to keep the tank's details a secret.
The T-14 (Object 149) main battle tank is based on the Armata platform, which had been in development at Uralvagonzavod since 2009. Other than the tank, the platform will be used for armored fighting vehicles (AFVs), self-propelled guns (SPGs), engineering vehicles and other uses.
As of January 2015 three models were being developed, based on the Armata platform: an actual tank, a fighting vehicle -- an infantry fighting vehicle -- and a heavy, armored repair vehicle. The plan was for the experimental commercial consignment to comprise a tank and a heavy Infantry fighting vehicle. They would not enter active service right away. This is an experimental commercial consignment intended for test exploitation in the forces. In other words, this is a period in which the equipment is used directly by the forces while a control exploitation is carried out at the same time, then conclusions are drawn and decisions are made on modifications. That is the normal process followed in creating technological developments.
The first 20 T-14 Armata main battle tanks were handed over to the military in February 2015. It was initially thought that the new tank would be revealed then, but authorities decided to keep the tank's details a secret. The T-14 (Object 149) main battle tank is based on the Armata platform, which has been in development at Uralvagonzavod since 2009. Other than the tank, the platform will be used for armored fighting vehicles (AFVs), self-propelled guns (SPGs), engineering vehicles and other uses.
The tank would go through state trials in 2016, and it is expected that by 2020, over 2,300 tanks on the Armata platform would be supplied to the military. The speed with which the Russians expect to go from prototype to operational service may be due to the extent to which this is not really a new tank design, but mainly a rework of the previously developed T-95, or it may simply be normal Russian optimism. If the former, there would be changes to fix whatever design flaws were identified in the T-95, which reportedly did well in testing but did not enter production. The fundamentals design elements would be the same: unmanned turrets with external gun, and new sensors.
Uralvagonzavod (UVZ), the leading Russian tank producer built a trial batch of Armata tanks, which were undergoing trials, the company's deputy director Vyacheslav Khalitov told Russian News Service radio 27 February 2016. “This batch has more than 20 vehicles. The trial of the prototypes will help us eliminate possible drawbacks,” he said. “Then we will send them to the armed forces to see how they prove themselves in different climatic conditions. That will be in 2016-17.”
Dave Majumdar writing in National Interest March 13, 2016 reported that Russia’s T-14 main battle tank — part of the Armata family of vehicles — was already in production. ... Asked if the Armata main battle tank would be among the projects the Kremlin put on hold as Moscow reduced defense outlays , Sergei Chemezov, chief executive officer of the Rostec state corporation, told the Wall Street Journal that only new developmental efforts would be halted. “That’s already in serial production,” Chemezov said, when asked specifically about the Armata. According to Chemezov, the Kremlin decided that projects that have are well into their development will be continued. “You can’t quit when you’re halfway there,” Chemezov told the Journal.
By early 2016, less than a year since the May 2015 victory parade, it became 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 was being produced. Their trial operation by the troops should identify shortcomings, which subsequently can be eliminated before bulk purchases take place.
A pilot batch of tanks "Armata" (T-14) passed troop trials - the last step before taking them into service and the beginning of serial deliveries. This was Deputy Director General of "Uralvagonzavod" Alex Zharich told the newspaper "Izvestia" on 15 April 2016. "Tests" Almaty was "going according to schedule, any problems with it," - said Zharich edition, noting that serial deliveries "may begin at any time, as soon as the customer wants it." According to him, now the army had about 20 T-14 tanks. Deputy General Director of Uralvagonzavod, which produces Armatu, Vyacheslav Khalitov reported that the first batch of 100 tanks will be delivered to the troops in 2017-2018. He did not specify whether the prototypes handed over to the military for testing are included in this batch.
Serial production of Russia's state-of-the-art Armata tanks is scheduled to begin next year, the head of Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) machine building company said 07 February 2017. "This will be next — 2018 — year, but we need to cut back tests," UVZ CEO Oleg Sienko told reporters.
At the end of December 2017, the commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces Oleg Salyukov announced the conclusion of a contract for the supply to the Armed Forces of an experimental-industrial batch of "Armata" tanks. The Glavkom specified that the enterprises of the defense industry conduct debugging of "Armata" in accordance with the planned terms. The fact that the new state program of armaments for 2018-2027 assumes serial shipments of "Armata" tanks, as early as November 2017, was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
Serial production of the newest T-14 "Armata" tanks will start in 2020, several hundred cars will be manufactured. This was reported 24 January 2018 by a source in the Russian military-industrial complex. "In accordance with the state program of armaments for 2018-2027, mass production of tanks on the Armata platform should begin in 2020, hundreds of cars will be manufactured," the source said. He noted that first of all the newest vehicles will be armed with the 1st Guards Tank (headquarters - Odintsovo, Moscow Region) and the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District (Voronezh headquarters), as well as the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military district (headquarters - Novocherkassk, Rostov region). The source also said that in the second half of 2018, the supply of the Armata's experimental-industrial lot to the troops should be completed. He did not specify how many cars it includes.
The Russian T-14 tank on the Armat platform in 2019 will pass state tests in the research institutes of the Russian Defense Ministry, the press service of the ministry said on 31 December 2019. "In the interests of the Ground Forces, the T-14 tank, created on the universal Armata platform, has been developed and is completing factory tests. In 2019, the combat vehicle will begin to undergo state tests in the research institutes of the Russian Defense Ministry," the defense ministry said. Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko reported that the Defense Ministry had signed a contract with Uralvagonzavod for the supply of 132 T-14 and BMP T-15 tanks on the Armata platform. It is assumed that all deliveries will be completed before 2021. On 26 November 2021, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko visited Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, where he checked the production of T-14 Armata and T-90M Proryv tanks, and also held a meeting on the development of armored weapons and equipment of the Ground Forces. "It is planned to deliver 20 tanks based on the Armata T-14 heavy interspecific tracked platform by the end of 2021," said a military representative at the enterprise, specifying that these vehicles will go to combat units. "According to the terms of the state contract, serial delivery of products to the troops is carried out before the end of state tests. Now a pilot batch is being manufactured until the end of state tests in order to gain experience in military operation," Major Dmitry Repin, Acting Chief of the 47th Military Representation, explained.
The tank’s builder, the Uralvagonzavod plant, can roll out around 500 T-14 Armata tanks each year.
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