The first 20 T-14 Armata main battle tanks were handed over to the military earlier in February. It was initially thought that the new tank would be revealed then, but authorities decided to keep the tank's details a secret.
The T-14 (Object 149) main battle tank is based on the Armata platform, which has been in development at Uralvagonzavod since 2009. Other than the tank, the platform will be used for armored fighting vehicles (AFVs), self-propelled guns (SPGs), engineering vehicles and other uses.
The Armata tank will reportedly feature a remotely controlled gun and fully automated loading, as well as a separate crew compartment made from composite materials and protected by multilayered armor.
The tank will go through state trials in 2016, and it is expected that by 2020, over 2,300 tanks on the Armata platform will be supplied to the military.
The platform’s chief tank (T-14) sports an unmanned remotely controlled turret armed with a brand new 125 mm 2A82-1M smoothbore cannon. Its muzzle energy is greater than one of the world’s previously considered best cannons: the German Leopard-2 Rheinmetall 120 mm gun. The 125 mm gun has 15-20 percent improved accuracy and its rolling fire angular dispersion has improved 1.7 times. According to Russian media, the Armata tank might also come with a specially developed 152 mm gun, the most powerful ever cannon to be mounted on a main battle tank.
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