Full-scale production of the T-14 Armata Main Battle Tank to begin in 2018 51907161

Defence & Security News - Uralvagonzavod
 
Full-scale production of the T-14 Armata Main Battle Tank to begin in 2018
The full-scale production of the cutting-edge Russian-made Armata tank shall start in 2018. The production tank will cost less than the latest Western tanks do, Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) Deputy Director General for Special Vehicles Vyacheslav Khalitov has told journalists.
 
     
Full-scale production of  he T 14 Armata Main Battle Tank to begin in 2018 640 001
The T-14 Armata Main Battle Tank during a military parade (Photo Wikipédia)
     
"We plan for good production [of the tank] after 2018," he told the Echo Moskvy radio in an interview.

Khalitov emphasized that "the cost of the Armata is lower than that of any foreign analog today" and the production-standard vehicle’s cost would be slashed even more.

Dwelling on the export of the advanced tank, Khalitov noted that the development should be completed, the Armata adopted for use and the Russian Army start operating it first before the tank could be exported. "The vehicle’s customer shall see how it behaves in real life, and foreign orders will be considered only after that," he added.

According to Khalitov, Uralvagonzavod will display 12 armored vehicles to potential customers at the Army 2016 show in September, but the Armata tank shall not be on display. "We are going to show 12 vehicles - both newly developed and upgraded ones," he said, adding that the vehicles would be demonstrated to both the public and "a number of foreign delegations."

Khalitov specified that the T-90MS tank and a fire support vehicle derived from the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle and fitted out with a fighting module packing a 57-mm gun would be shown in particular. The exhibits also will be demonstrated on the move.

The Armata is not on the exhibit list, because it is in the preliminary trials, Uralvagonzavod’s deputy director general added. According to Khalitov, the tank needs debugging - "a baby should be healthy to be showed off."

Khalitov mentioned India and Algeria among key customers for Russian-made armor.

The T-14 Armata tank has a number of unique technical features, the unmanned turret in particular. It was unveiled to the public at the Victory Day Parade in Moscow in 2015.

Commenting on the situation in Syria, the Uralvagonzavod deputy director general said that the Syrian Army’s Russian-made T-90As used against terrorists "have performed in an excellent manner." "To date, we have gained statistical data specifically for the combat operations of the T-90A tanks," Khalitov emphasized. "The vehicles have done great in Syria."

He said the tank owed its high survivability to its electro-optical jammers and explosive reactive armor. By way of example, he described the hitting of a Syrian T-90A by a US-made TOW 2 antitank guided missile that failed to inflict damage worth mentioning.
     
© Copyright 2016 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.