Tank construction
T-14 Armata – Putin’s super tank “naked” on the assembly line
The Afghanit Active Protection System is clearly visible under the tower.
© Sceenshot Russia State TV / PR
In the Uralwagonzavod tank mega factory, the T-14 production line caught the eye. Here you could see the Armata without clothes – modules, reactive armor and bezels.
The T-14 Armata took the stage with a bang – no one saw the development of a next-generation main battle tank coming when the first recordings of the Armata were leaked in 2015. So it was little consolation for the West that one of the prototypes of Putin’s super tanks remained smoking at the Victory Parade in Moscow in May 2015. The T-14 achieved everything that designers around the world have dreamed of, but which they were never allowed to build due to a lack of government contracts.
In addition to the novel construction, enormous numbers of tanks appeared at the time, which the Kremlin supposedly wanted to build in the shortest possible time. The numbers were absurd even then, because in peacetime there would have been no way of building 2,000 or more main battle tanks in a few years. But after the bang in 2015, it became suspiciously quiet around the T-14. Some prototypes were built, and now and then videos of their exercises would pop up – but that was about it. The first series models of the T-14 Armata are now being built in the Uralwagonsawod tank megafactory in Nizhny Tagil – 20 instead of thousands. They should finally be delivered at the end of 2021.
Deep insights into the army transmitter
The Armata’s production line was filmed during a visit by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivorutschko. That offered exciting insights into the production version of the tank. All the more so since the T-14s could still be seen naked, without the turret fairing and without reactive armor. Compared to the first prototypes, there have been a number of changes, even the chassis and the wheels have been designed differently than in the 2015 models. The bare, unmanned tower is particularly interesting. Without attached modules, cladding and reactive armor, it looks very small. Which is hardly surprising, since it does not have to keep any space free for the crew and ultimately only has to accommodate the cannon and the feed of the autoloader. Nevertheless, one wonders whether the actual turret is still heavily armored. Or whether the armor mainly protects the chassis and the crew’s survival cell.
Few new buildings
During the visit to the factory, modernized versions of the T-90 Provy could also be seen. Instead of building the T-14 Armata in large numbers, the T-90, T-72 and T-84 types are being modernized in Russia. They too are equal to all western tanks. If such comparisons are even permissible. Russian tank construction has traditionally always placed more emphasis on high mobility, lower weight and easy maintenance than the West, which instead placed more emphasis on significantly heavier and better protected tanks. The shift to the extensive modernizations suggests that there were bigger problems with the development of the T-14 than the Kremlin wants to admit. Presumably the T-14 will just be very expensive. At the current rate of construction, the T-14 Armata will not reach the troops in significant quantities for the foreseeable future. It is only built in the quantities that are necessary to gain practical experience and to continuously develop the series further.
Nor is it that the West is rushing Moscow. France and Germany are working together, but not harmoniously, on their own future-proof tank – the Main Ground Combat System. There are still no reliable annual figures for its construction.
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