T-14 Armata

T-14 Armata 

In 2015 during the Moscow Victory Day Parade Russia unveiled its newest addition to their arsenal. The T-14 Armata, a next-generation main battle tank based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform. And even though one of the tanks had a malfunction during the rehearsals, the unveiling itself was enough to raise eyebrows in the western world.

The T-14  is a new-generation main battle tank aimed to replace the T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks that become increasingly out-dated. It is much bigger than the older T-90 weighing at 48 tonnes and is operated by a 3 man crew (commander, gunner and driver). The Armata’s engine is the ChTZ 12Н360 (A-85-3A) diesel engine delivering up to 1,500 hp, making it run with a top speed of 80–90 kilometres per hour (50–56 mph) within a range of 500 kilometres (310 mi) using  a 12-speed automatic gearbox. Unlike most of the T series tanks, the new tank has seven 700 mm road wheels per side and has the ability to adjust the suspension of at least the two first roadwheels and probably, the last ones to improve the pivoting ability of the tank.

The main gun is the 2A82-1M 125 mm (4.92 in) smoothbore cannon which is 15–20% more accurate and its rolling fire angular dispersion has improved 1.7 times compared to the older 125 mm cannons. It has a fire rate of 10-12 rounds per minute, and can fire a wide range of ammunition, including armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) projectiles, high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT-FS) shells, air burst shells, the Vacuum-1 APFSDS round, the new controlled-detonation Telnik HE-Frag shell and the 9M119M1 Invar-M missile. Secondary armaments are remotely controlled 12.7×108mm Kord (GRAU index 6P49) machine gun with 300 rounds (above the turret roof-mounted commander's sight) and a 7.62×54mmR Pecheneg PKP or a PKTM (detachable to the turret front) machine gun with 1,000 rounds.

T-14 on muddy terrain 

One feature of the T-14 is the unmanned turret. All of the tank crew is well protected inside an internal armored capsule with more than 900 mm RHA equivalent, increasing their chance of survival in case of an enemy hit. Both the chassis and the turret are equipped with the Malachit dual-explosive reactive armour (ERA) system on the front, sides and the top. The state and functions of all tank modules are monitored by an integrated computerized control system that can analyze threats and then either suggest or automatically take actions to eliminate the enemy. The tank’s main protection system is the Afghanit active protection system (APS), which includes a millimeter-wave radar to detect, track, and intercept incoming anti-tank munitions, both kinetic energy penetrators and tandem charges.

The commander's sight is located on the turret top and has a 360° field of view, whilst the gunner’s sight is at  the turret's niche to the gun's left, equipped with a direct-vision periscopic channel and laser designator for the T-14's gun-launched, SACLOS anti-tank missiles. Both gunner and commander have largely identical multispectral image sights, with visible electromagnetic spectrum and thermography channels and laser rangefinders. Russia is expected to have 2,300 units by 2020.

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