The T-14 Armata (; industrial designation ) is a Russian fourth-generation main battle tank (MBT) based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform.
The Russian Army initially planned to acquire 2,300 T-14s between 2015 and 2020. By 2018, production and fiscal shortfalls delayed this to 2025, before Russia announced the apparent cancellation of the main production run on 30 July 2018. However, , the Russian state-owned TASS media agency claimed the Armata had been expected to begin serial production in 2022, with delivery of a test batch of 100 to the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division expected to begin in 2022. The tanks are planned to only be officially transferred following completion of all state tests. In December 2021 the Russian state conglomerate Rostec stated that serial production had commenced, with "more than 40" Armata tanks anticipated to be delivered to Russian troops after 2023. On 4 March 2024, Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec, stated that the T-14 Armata had entered service with the Russian Armed Forces. This claim has not been confirmed.
History After the cancellation of the T-95 in 2010, Uralvagonzavod began the OKR Armata (Armament) design study. The study resulted in the Object 148 based on the T-95 (itself based on the Object 187). The Russian Army curtailed T-90 orders beginning in 2012 to prepare for the arrival of the new tank.
The T-14 first publicly appeared in March 2015, when several tanks with covered turrets were seen loaded on train carriage in Alabino. It was subsequently revealed on 9 May during the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade. During the 2015 rehearsals, one of the tanks suddenly stopped moving, and after attempts to tow it failed, it moved away under its own power after about 15 minutes.
At least seven T-14 Armata tanks appeared in the 2015 and 2016 Moscow Victory Day parade, five in 2017 and 2018. Four were anticipated in promotional materials in advance of the 2019 parade.
The state trials of the tank started in early 2020. This became known in April 2020, when Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov stated the T-14 has already been tested in combat conditions on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. Subsequently in July 2020, testing of an unmanned version of the T-14 called "Tachanka-B" () was announced.
In November 2022, The Moscow Times and Newsweek reported that the state program under which the T-14 Armata is being developed had been halted because the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine necessitated radical changes to the planned expenditure for urgent needs. The same month, several videos and photos of T-14s appeared on social media, apparently training at the same grounds as Russian military personnel who were mobilized. The videos were located to a training ground in Kazan, where cadets of the Kazan Higher Tank Command School train. On 4 March 2024, Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec corporation, stated that T-14 Armata entered service with the Russian Armed Forces.
Procurement In 2016 the Russian Defence Ministry announced that it had signed a contract for a "test batch" of 100 T-14 tanks to be delivered by 2020, with the full project to be extended until 2025.
In July 2018, Deputy Prime Minister for Defence and Space Industry Yury Borisov said there is currently no need to mass-produce the Armata when its older predecessors, namely the latest variants of the T-72, remain "effective against American, German and French counterparts", saying, "Why flood our military with Armatas, the T-72s are in great demand on the market(s)." Instead, a modernization program of the T-72s, T-80s and T-90s in-service will take precedence. In August 2018, at the ARMY2018 Forum outside Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a contract for the purchase of 32 T-14s tanks and 100 T-15 infantry fighting vehicles, with delivery to be finished by 2021.
In February 2019 it was announced that the first 12 tanks would be delivered by the end of that year. In August 2019, the Russian Military-Industrial Courier reported that out of a contractually agreed 132 Armata-platform vehicles over three years to 2021 (including T-14 tanks, and also T-15 IFVs and T-16 BREM ARVs (:ru:Т-16 (БРЭМ)), assuming production of 44 vehicles a year, only 16 would be delivered by the end of 2019. This implied a shortfall of at least 28 vehicles that year. By November 2019 the delivery forecast slipped to "late 2019 or early 2020."
In mid January 2020 the head of Rostec (the conglomerate owning Uralvagonzavod) said no Armata-platform vehicles including T-14 tanks had been delivered, and in February the CEO of Uralvagonzavod only said that Armata-platform armour (not necessarily T-14 tanks) would start shipping to begin operation evaluation in 2020, with the full contract of 132 Armata-platform vehicles completed by 2022. Furthermore, also in February 2020 it became evident that the set of requirements for the intended engine of the tank were not met by the construction bureau and the project of development of the engine would be closed in the first quarter of 2020, further delaying the introduction of the tank for an unspecified time. In August 2020, the Industry and Trade minister told journalists that the production of 132 Armata-platform tanks and fighting vehicles including T-14 tanks had begun after the resolution of problems with engines and thermal-imaging equipment, and they would be issued to the armed forces in 2021.
In July 2021, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said the tank would enter serial production in 2022. However in March, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that only "an experimental-industrial" batch of T-14s would be delivered in 2022. In August 2021, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said that the Russian Armed Forces would receive 20 T-14 Armata tanks by the end of 2021. On 23 August 2021, a Rostec official said that the company had shipped an unspecified number of T-14 tanks in an "experimental batch" to the Russian Armed Forces. In November 2021, state trials were in progress and expected to be completed in 2022, and a "pilot batch" of twenty tanks was yet to be delivered to the armed forces. On 24 December 2021, First Deputy General Director of Rostec Vladimir Artyakov announced, that "serial production" of the T-14 was launched.
On 9 December 2021 MIC First Deputy Chairman Andrei Yelchaninov said that state trials of new ammunition loader for the T-14 should be fully completed in 2022, and that "more than 40" Armata tanks will be delivered to Russian armed forces "after 2023".
On 4 March 2024, Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec, stated that the T-14 Armata had entered service with the Russian Armed Forces. However, Chemezov also stated that, because of cost concerns, it would not replace the T-90 currently in service.
Claims of deployment in Ukraine On 25 December 2022, Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov posted footage of the T-14 in combat training with other sources claiming that the tank was being prepared for battle and already deployed to the conflict zone, with a military expert saying the videos were probably shot near Kazan.
On 25 April 2023, RIA Novosti reported that an informed source claimed that the T-14 Armata has been used to fire indirectly on Ukrainian positions. It is yet to be deployed in direct assault operations. The tanks have been given extra protection and the crews have gone through "combat coordination". The tank was also absent from the Victory Day parade on 9 May for the first time. Some outside observers expressed skepticism regarding the T-14's combat readiness. On 19 July 2023, TASS quoted two unnamed defense industry sources stating that Russia's southern battlegroup had deployed T-14s in direct frontline combat in order to assess its performance, before withdrawing them from the frontline. No official information has been published yet regarding its deployment in the conflict zone. On 4 September 2023, TASS reported that the T-14 Armata has been withdrawn from Ukraine. It was deployed in an indirect fire role to test it in "real combat conditions" while being shielded from "direct assault operations". The tank was said to have received additional side protection from anti-tank ammunition.
In March 2024, Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec, stated that the T-14 would unlikely be deployed in the war in Ukraine. Chemezov attributed this decision to the vehicle's high cost, noting that the Russian military preferred utilizing the more economical T-90 tank instead.
Design The Armata was designed over the course of five years, and features a number of innovative characteristics, including an unmanned turret. The crew of three is seated in an armoured capsule in the front of the hull, which will also include a toilet for the crew.
Armament
The Vacuum-1 Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS) round, developed for the 2A82-1M gun, has a penetrator that is 900 mm long, and is said to be capable of penetrating 1000 mm of Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA) equivalent at a distance of 2 km. The new controlled-detonation Teknik HE-Frag shell is available and has entered service. The gun is capable of firing new guided missiles like the 9M119M1 Invar-M which has an effective range of 100 m to 5 km, and can engage low-flying air targets such as helicopters, with a new 3UBK21 Sprinter Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) with an effective range up to 12 km developed specifically for it. The 3UBK25 active homing ATGM is currently under development.
The secondary armament consists of a 12.7×108mm Kord (GRAU index 6P49) machine gun with 300 rounds (not observed during the 2015 parade) and a 7.62×54mmR Pecheneg PKP (GRAU Index: 6P41) or a PKTM (6P7К) machine gun with 1,000 rounds. All guns are remotely controlled. In addition, another 1,000 rounds can be stored separately.
The 152 mm cannon, which was first developed in 2000 for the T-95 prototype, has a high-speed APFSDS shell with a 1,980 m/s muzzle velocity, only dropping to 1,900 m/s at 2 km. However, Russian engineers have so far kept the 125 mm-size gun, assessing that improvements in ammunition are enough to increase effectiveness while concluding that a larger bore weapon would offer few practical advantages.Russia's New Tanks Are Pretty 'Stale' – Offiziere.ch, 10 June 2015
The T-14 could also be modified to use anti-aircraft missiles. A 30 mm anti-aircraft gun could be installed in the near future.
In August 2022, Russian media reported that the 38th Research, Development, and Testing Institute of Armoured Hardware and Armament proposed a list of new features for a prospective future T-14 design at the turn of the 2030s, which included the following:
System of symbiosis between T-14 tank and dedicated reconnaissance drone 152 mm main gun Thermobaric ammo for 152 mm Supersonic armor-piercing ammo for 152 mm ATGM for 152 mm with aiming/guidance system "fire and forget" Improved target detection and identification at 6+ km Redesigned turret and new autoloader for accommodating 152 mm gun and ammo
Mobility
During the prototype stage, several engines with power outputs ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 hp were tested on the platform, with the 1,500 hp version reportedly allowing a max speed of 82 km/h. The T-14 is powered by a ChTZ 12N360 (A-85-3A) diesel engine with a displacement of 34.6 liters delivering up to . The engine's theoretical maximum power, which is not normally used, is , at the cost of radically decreasing its service life, with a projected minimum 2,000 hours at a nominal , comparable to other modern tank engines, and up to 10,000 hours at a moderated . The engine is electronically controlled. Operational range is over .
The T-14 has a 12-speed automatic gearbox, with a top speed of . Sources suggest a partly or fully hydrostatic transmission.