Russian T-14 Armata tanks in Ukraine soon? How the country's most-advanced machines could be devastating

Moscow may soon be deploying a new weapon in the Ukraine war – the T-14 Armata Main Battle Tank. If Russian social media is to be believed that is. Videos of the next-generation tank, reportedly filmed at a training ground near Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, have gone viral on social media. But what do we know about the T-14 Armata Main Battle Tank? Let’s take a closer look: According to Eurasian Times, the tank was developed by UralVagonZavod, a division of the state-owned Russian defence manufacturer Rostec. Coming in at an eye-watering price tag of $5.7 million a vehicle, the tank made its debut at the Moscow Victory Day Parade in May 2015. As per Insider, Western analysts have been fearful since its unveiling that the Armata might be too much of a handful for NATO’s M1 Abrams, Challenger 2, and Leopard 2 battle tanks. It is equipped with an anti-drone protection system, advanced sensors, data networking, onboard drones, and a high degree of automation. It is built on the ‘Armata’ Universal Combat Platform which  can be used to create larger armoured vehicles, as per the report. As per MSN, the tank has fully-digitised equipment and an isolated armoured capsule for the crew. It can also launch mini-drones and has an unmanned turret, which makes it less vulnerable to anti-tank missiles.

The unmanned turret also substantially boosts the crew’s survivability in combat, as per TASS news agency.

Its 125MM smoothbore gun – which has 45 rounds – comes with fully automated loading. The smoothbore gun, which can also launch laser-guided missiles, can be swapped out for a larger 152 mm gun. Its secondary weapons are a 12.7mm machine gun or a 7.62mm machine gun. It has an operational range of over 500 kilometres. With its  12-speed automatic gearbox, the T-14 can hit a top speed exceeding 80 kilometres per hour. Russia claims T-14 Armata can withstand attack by the American Javelin anti-tank missile. [caption id=“attachment_11674351” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj[/caption] The tank, if deployed, would replace the ageing T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks deployed in Ukraine. Kyiv claims Moscow has lost 2,886 tanks between 24 February and 20 November, as per Eurasian Times. While Moscow initially wanted to pick up 2,300 Armatas by 2025 at $4 million each, stalling production cut that number to 132 by 2020. The Armata “became a hostage to many new technologies and systems introduced into it,” the Russian defence magazine VPK said. “At first, it looked more than innovative and aroused explosive interest. But the vehicle was prohibitively expensive. As a result, the Ministry of Defence came to the conclusion that there was no need to hurry with large batches of Armatas. And the emphasis should be on the T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks, using the huge modernization potential built into them back in Soviet times.” The manufacturer in September showed off the tank at Army 2022, a defence trade show sponsored by the Russian government. “The Russian state arms exporter has never demonstrated the T-14 Armata tank before,” the Russian state-news agency TASS reported, calling the new tank “cutting-edge.” In 2021, a scale model of the tank was put on display at the IDEX trade show in Abu Dhabi, which led to six countries expressing interest, as per the report. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.