The Russians Can't Afford Their T-14 Tank

More than three years after Russia’s T-14 Armata tank made its widely touted and much scrutinized public debut, the country has made it clear it has no plans at present to buy more than 100 of them. The design’s ballooning cost has forced the Kremlin to focus its efforts on upgrading its T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks, instead.

In 2015, Oleg Sienko, then-Chief Executive Officer of Uralvagonzavod, or UVZ, the T-14’s state-owned manufacturer and Russia’s largest producer of tanks, had said that he expected the Kremlin to order as many as 2,300 Armatas by 2020. The first examples made their initial public appearance ahead of the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow that year and one suffered an embarrassing break down during a rehearsal. The Russian government's planned purchases of the type have steadily shrunk since then.

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The Russian MoD has Ordered two Battalions of T-14 Armata Tanks

Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov has confirmed an order for two battalions of T-14 main battle tanks (MBTs), the Ministry of Defence (MoD) reported on its website on 9 February.

The order for the T-14 MBTs and T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) is understood to have been placed in December 2017. Touring the Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, Borisov said, “It’s no secret that we already have a contract for trials and combat operations: two battalions of Armata tanks and one battalion of heavy infantry fighting vehicles.” Both vehicles are based on the Armata common platform.

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This is, iirc, only 60 tanks and 30 IFVs.

They are for evaluation and extended trials.

A Bad Sign for the Russian T-14 Armata

Russia's Ministry of Defense (MoD) is planning to bring back into service some of its mothballed T-80BV main battle tanks (MBTs) and to update them, according to a source in the country's defence industry.

"At present, the preparative works to start the modernisation of the first T-80BV MBTs are at a final stage," the source told IHS Jane's . "In accordance with the programme developed by Omsktransmash and the Special Design Bureau for Transport Machine-Building [SKBTM], the overhaul and modernisation of the MoD's T-80BV tanks will be launched next year. [We will be doing] the relevant works at the Omsktransmash facility," the source said adding that the numbers of the tanks to be updated and the terms of the programme will be defined by the military.

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US Army Wants a new Tank by 2035

The US Army wants its Next Generation Combat Vehicle to serve as pack master to a swarm of crawling and flying robots. It wants lighter weapons with heavier firepower, able to aim almost straight up to shoot drones out of the sky and hit rooftop snipers. It wants miniaturized missile defenses to shoot down incoming anti-tank weapons. It wants suspension, underbody, and crew compartments designed from the ground up (literally) to resist landmines and roadside bombs. It wants diesel-electric engines — like a giant Prius — or other advanced motors that can power an array of jammers, sensors, and drone-killing lasers.

Given Russian advances and our own aging hardware, the Army also wants all this, or something close, by 2035. That means research and development must get started now, when budgets are already tight.

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Plans and Progress on Russia's T-14 Armata Tank

Some data on Russia’s armor programs appearing in the media prior to Tank Troops’ Day (11 September) didn’t get too much notice.

RIA Novosti interviewed the chief of the MOD’s Main Automotive and Armor Directorate (GABTU), General-Lieutenant Aleksandr Shevchenko on 9 September.

General-Lieutenant Shevchenko noted that the MOD plans to “modernize” new Tigr armored vehicles, and not just by mounting a 30-mm gun. They will, not surprisingly, go by the name Tigr-2. But no other details.

Shevchenko confirmed Uralvagonzavod’s announcement that it has delivered more than 1,000 T-72B3 tanks. He also indicated that the MOD will receive 300 improved T-72B3. The improved T-72B3, he says, will have a better engine and better defensive and targeting systems.

Some number of Russian T-90 tanks nearing the end of their service lives will be modernized under the “Proryv-3” program, according to the GABTU chief. The resulting tank is supposed to be superior to the original T-90.

Regarding the Armata armored vehicle family, Shevchenko reported that the “experimental” lot of T-14 tanks will conclude initial field trials in 2016 and move into state testing. This will be completed in 2017 and followed by formal state acceptance of the T-14.

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Russia has Ordered the First 100 T-14 Armata Tanks.

The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed an agreement with manufacturer Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) for the supply of a test consignment of more than 100 T-14 Armata main battle tanks (MBTs), the first units of which are already undergoing field trials, Deputy Minister of Defence Yuri Ivanovich Borisov told local media on 6 September.

"The first batch has already been purchased from Uralvagonzavod. We have a contract for the pilot batch of more than 100 units," Borisov said.

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T-14 Armata Tank Manufacturer Uralvagonzavod on the Cusp of Bankruptcy?

Maybe Russia’s economy is muddling through its downturn. But for some major enterprises, the situation seems somewhat worse. Tank and railcar maker Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) is a case in point.

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US Army Testing Foriegn Active Protection Systems for Tanks

The US Army is turning to foreign systems for an interim solution for advanced protection for its combat vehicles against rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank guided missiles and other threats.

The service’s effort to rapidly integrate already developed solutions is heating up this summer as the Army tests out what will likely be four different solutions on M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Stryker combat vehicles.

Such threats like RPGs aren’t just resident in one theater, but are problems world-wide for armored combat vehicles and it’s only growing, particularly in the Central and European Command area of operations.

Partly spurring the effort is the possibility that Russia is ahead of the US Army when it comes to armor protection as evidenced by the reported survivability of its tanks when up against Ukrainian anti-tank and anti-armor weapons in the ongoing conflict along Ukraine’s border with Russia.

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Rhenmetall Shows off its 130mm Tank gun

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Elbit has Developed an Augmented Reality Helmet for Tank Commanders

Elbit will unveil next week at Eurosatory the IronVision, the first Helmet Mounted Display (HMS) designed for crewmembers of combat vehicles. Part of the company’s See-Through Armor (STA) architecture, IronVision is a 360-degree panoramic situational awareness system that enables tank and infantry crewmen to ‘see-through’ their vehicle’s armor in real-time, creating a complete and clear visualization of the battlefield, even under close hatches.

IronVision’s 360-degree, high-resolution imagery is projected in full color and zero latency to the wearer’s visor, offering a bright and vivid display of the surroundings in both day and night and all types of weather.

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Russia Developing Tank Support Fighting Vehicle Based on the Armata Chassis

While the T-14 main battle tank is the most prominent member of the Armata family, the vehicle series incorporates a host of new fighting machines. Among those is a platform ominously named the Terminator-3, which is a tank support fighting vehicle.

“Russia also plans to develop its tank support fighting vehicle dubbed the Terminator-3 on the basis of the country’s latest Armata tanks,” Oleg Sienko, a senior manager with Uralvagonzavod Corporation told state-owned RIA Novosti earlier this year. “We will [produce them]. We have a concept for developing vehicles on the basis of the Armata platform.”

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Panzer Kampf! Germans Developing a new 130mm Tank gun

Rheinmetall is developing a 130mm smoothbore tank gun that will be unveiled at the Eurostatory exhibition in June, company officials have confirmed to IHS Jane's .

According to Werner Kraemer, president of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition's executive board, the new 130 mm gun should be in production by 2025.

The new tank gun is intended to be a match for the current and new generations of Russian armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), including the T-14 Armata main battle tank (MBT).

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DARPA Awards 8 Contracts for First Phase of Ground X-Vehicle Technology for Future Armored Fighting Vehicles

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded technology research contracts to eight companies under the agency’s Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) program, seeking to deliver crew/vehicle survivability through means other than traditional heavy passive armor solutions. DARPA expects these capabilities will be applicable to future ground combat vehicles, improving their combat efficiency and reduce cost.

“We’re exploring a variety of potentially groundbreaking technologies, all of which are designed to improve vehicle mobility, vehicle survivability and crew safety and performance without piling on armor,” said Maj. Christopher Orlowski, DARPA GXV-T program manager.

“DARPA’s performers for GXV-T are helping defy the ‘more armor equals better protection’ axiom that has constrained armored ground vehicle design for the past 100 years, and are paving the way toward innovative, disruptive vehicles for the 21st Century and beyond.” Orlowski added.

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US Army Wants Active Protection Systems for Armored Fighting Vehicles

Alarmed by deadly battles in Ukraine, the Army wants to place miniaturized missile defense systems on its armored vehicles to protect them from anti-tank weapons. To reach this high-tech holy grail, which has painfully evaded the service in the past, the Army is taking a two-track approach. The fast track, as we’ve written previously, is to test off-the-shelf systems, like the Israeli Trophy, that are used today. But today’s defenses may fail against tomorrow’s missiles.

That’s why the Army is also pursuing a long-term alternative, a Modular Active Protection System designed to be easily improved as new dangers emerge. The vision for MAPS is a suite of plug-and-play defenses adaptable to different threats and to different Army vehicles.

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BTR-82A Order a setback for the new Bumerang APC?

Russia has ordered an additional 20 BTR-82A 8x8 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) for its armed forces, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 10 April.

Made by the Arzamas Machinery Plant of Russia's Military-Industrial Company (MIC), the new vehicles are set to be delivered before the end of the year, under the State Defence Order for 2016 (GOZ-2016).

The BTR-82A first entered Russian service in 2011 according to the MoD. It is the latest version of the BTR-80 family, of which Russia operates over 2,000 across the Russian Ground Forces and the Naval Infantry. Visually almost identical externally to the BTR-80A, the BTR-82A features new composite armour, a spall liner, a new infrared lamp, and other internal changes.

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T-90 Tank Appears to Have Survived TOW Missile Hit

For all the videos coming out of the Syrian civil war, a one minute, 31-second clip of a U.S.-made TOW missile slamming into a T-90 tank got more attention than most. In the video uploaded in February, Russia’s most advanced operational battle tank met one of the United States’ main tank killers on the battlefield.

The T-90 was Russian made, but likely crewed by Syrian troops. The missile was supplied by the United States — most likely via Saudi Arabia or the CIA — to the Hawks Mountain Brigade fighting near Aleppo.

For the participants, the whole experience might have been terrifiying. For most of the rest of the world, it was a chance to see what happens when state-of-the-art hardware from two major world powers violently collide in the Middle East.

The only good news is that nobody appeared to get killed. What happened to the tank … well, no one who watched the video was exactly sure.

We saw the wire-guided missile bob toward the T-90, which was parked on a crest between two low-slung buildings. Then the missile hit the tank’s turret with a tremendous flash which sent up a cloud of smoke. One of the crew members bailed and the video ended.

There was no fire and the tank didn’t “brew up,” meaning the fuel tank didn’t ignite and burn the crew to death. (The Syrian army has lost thousands of tanks since the war began in 2011.) This one, it seemed, survived.

A recent photograph circulated on Russian military forums shows what the tank looked like after impact. Sure enough, the T-90’s Kontakt-5 reactive armor appeared to save it. Reactive armor explodes outwards and stops incoming missiles from penetrating into the tank and killing the crew.

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Poland to Embark on $1 Billion Program to Replace Infantry Fighting Vehicles

The Polish government is planning to spend up to 80 billion zloty (US $21 billion) to replace its military’s Soviet-designed BWP-1 and BWP-2 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) with new tracked vehicles, Deputy Defense Minister Bartosz Kownacki told local news agency PAP.

“This is a major undertaking for the next dozen years which, according to various estimates, will generate a cost of between 20 and 80 billion zloty if we decide to acquire two types of infantry fighting vehicles, lighter and heavier units,” Kownacki said.

According to the deputy defense minister, the government is considering various partnerships on the project. This includes launching a joint procurement with the neighboring Czech Republic, as well as using the license for South Korea’s K9 chassis, which was acquired by Polish manufacturer Huta Stalowa Wola for its ASM Krab 155mm self-propelled howitzer.

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Parts of the Russian T-14 Tank Were 3d Printed

The Russian defense industry has been using 3D printing technology to create prototype components for the T-14 main battle tank and the rest of the Armata family of combat vehicles. Eventually, Russian industry hopes to be able to build production standard tank components for the Armata and other armored vehicles.

“3D printing has been implemented to speed up trial production,” Anton Ulrich, manager of the rapid prototyping lab at Electromashina, told 3Ders.org.

“When a designer develops new products, he uses CAD software to produce a 3D model. So, using a 3D printer, we can quickly turn those 3D models into prototype parts. Now there is no need to order a sample component, and then, realizing that it doesn’t fit, have to order a re-run and waste metal. Furthermore, it is possible to produce not just small elements of a part, but the whole assembly, evaluating its mechanical characteristics before production.”

In the near future, Electromashina — which is a division of armored vehicle manufacturer UralVagonZavod — expects to start producing 3D printed titanium parts that are several meters in length for use in armored vehicles. However, in the short term, those components will be used for prototypes rather than for production machines.

“3D printed components can go straight to consumers in certain industries,” Ulrich told the trade magazine. “But in the defense industry, standards are much higher.”

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US Marines Choose BAE & SAIC for Amphibious Combat Vehicle Prototypes

The Marine Corps chose BAE and SAIC from a field of five competitors to build competing prototypes for the long-awaited Amphibious Combat Vehicle. BAE, a dominant player in tracked armored vehicles, had teamed with Italian armsmaker Iveco to offer a variant of the Italians’ wheeled SuperAV. SAIC, best known as a consulting firm, offered a variant of the Singaporean Terrex. “BAE’s contract is for $103.8 million, while SAIC’s is for $121.5 million,” the Marines announced at 5 pm.

The awards are a major step forward for the service. The Marines had struggled for years to replace their Amphibious Assault Vehicle — aging, lumbering, and terribly vulnerable to roadside bombs — whose ability to carry Marines from ship to shore and inland is central to the service’s identity. After early doubts about the ACV candidates’ capabilities, the Marines are now confident the winner will be as fast on the water as the old AAV and vastly better on land, with mobility similar to the Army’s eight-wheel-drive Stryker and — perhaps most importantly — protection equal to an MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected) vehicle.

Each of the two winners will build 16 vehicles to be delivered from January through April 2017. (The current contract says 13 but Marine officials pledge to execute an option for three more once the funding is available). That unusually large number of prototypes will speed up testing and development of tactics, with multiple activities running simultaneously and allowing any broken-down vehicles to be quickly replaced, ACV program manager John Garner told reporters this afternoon. By the time the program enters its formal operational evaluation (OPEVAL) in late 2017 (early fiscal year 2018), said Garner, “the Marines will have already learned how they’re going to operate these vehicles.”

After that comes a downselect to a single winner, who’ll build up to 204 test vehicles at an average procurement unit cost (APUC) of no more than $6.5 million each. That and other costs to date will constitute the $1.2 billion “ACV 1.1″ program, which enters service ca. 2021. But immediately on 1.1’s heels comes “ACV 1.2,” which will produce up to 490 vehicles of multiple variants. (All ACV 1.1s are regular troop carriers; ACV 1.2s will also include command vehicles and recovery vehicles, essentially armored tow-trucks). The service wants the transition from 1.1 to 1.2 to be as smooth as possible, with as little new development and testing as possible, which means the winner of 1.1 will have a lock on 1.2 unless they drop the ball.

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China Retiring Type 89 120mm Assault Guns

After 24 years of service, the PLA is now starting to decommission its 120mm Assault Gun fleet, the Type89. Unlike other Chinese AFV, The type89 is the only one of its kind with a NATO 120mm smoothbore main gun which is somewhat of a logistic nightmare to support. The standard PLA caliber is the 125mm in common with the Russian practice.

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