When Porsche 911 Targ celebrated 50 years of existence they decided to create a new model with a special color, so they used a Gulf blue finish. Lotus did something similar with their Elise 20th Anniversary Edition and so did Nissan with their 45-year-old GT-R model. Since the world is celebrating 70 years after the Allied Forces won the World War II against the Nazis, Russia is celebrating with a brand new tank.
Meet the Armata tank or the T-14 if you’re rather into abbreviations. It’s Russia’s brand new tank that was officially released on Monday, for the first time in full disclose. The Russian Defense Ministry has just published a series of photographs on its website in the run-up to the Victory Day parade in Moscow. All the previous images leaked before envisioned a T-14 Armata tank with its turret hidden with protective canvas.
Before we get into the specifics you should know the Armata is an advanced, next generation heavy military tracked vehicle platform, and the Russian new tank is just one of the military vehicles using it.
Even though it took some features from its precedent, the T-95 (whose development was, in fact, canceled in 2010), the T-14 is a lot more advanced, apparently. The first prototypes of the heavy armored vehicles based on the Armata combat platform were presented at the defense exhibition Russian Arms Expo in Nishny Tagil in September 2013.
An externally mounted 125 mm gun
The Armata tank has a remote weapon station turret and an automated control system, with the crew protected by an armored capsule. In terms of artillery, it has an externally mounted 125 mm gun with 32 rounds of ammunition. The secondary armament consists of a 30 mm cannon and a 12.7 mm machine gun.
Like we said, Russia’s new war machine will be present along other armored vehicles based on the same platform that will take part in the grand Victory Day Parade in Moscow this Saturday.
So far, about 20 units were commissioned by the Russian military, but according to the country’s major weapons modernization program, 2,300 Armatas should be delivered by 2020. On the other hand, the country’s economic challenges that include the impact of slumping oil prices and Western sanctions might delay that target.
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