Posted on 03/13/2016 3:36:58 PM PDT by Mariner
Russia’s T-14 main battle tank—which is part of the Armata family of combat vehicles—is already in production.
While Moscow displayed early developmental models of the new the combat vehicles in public during the 2015 Victory Day parade, most Western analysts had believed that the Armata family was still in its developmental stages. However, according to a top Russian defense industry executive, the Armata family is already in serial production.
Asked recently if the Armata main battle tank would be among the projects that the Kremlin would put on hold as Moscow reduces its defense outlays as oil revenues suffer, Sergei Chemezov, chief executive officer of the Rostec state corporation, told the Wall Street Journal that only new developmental efforts would be halted. “That’s already in serial production,” Chemezov said, when asked specifically about the Armata.
According to Chemezov, the Kremlin has decided that projects that have are well into their development will be continued. “You can’t quit when you’re halfway there,” Chemezov told the Journal. “Money has already been invested, and if we stop without finishing, then that will be lost money. Everything that has been started will be finished, and money will be allocated to it.”
The Armata Universal Combat Platform consists of the T-14 main battle tank, the T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle and the T-16 armored recovery vehicle, among a host of other vehicles. Another member of the Armata family includes an upgunned heavy assault armored vehicle, which has been dubbed “the Tank Killer” by Russian media. While the T-14 is no slouch in terms of firepower with its new 2A82-1M 125mm gun—which is mounted in an unmanned turret. The “Tank Killer” variant seems to incorporate a derivative of the 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV’s 152mm artillery piece into the Armata chassis in a direct fire mounting.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
Russians build high quality tanks.
The T-34 is arguably the best tank of all time, period.
During the Eastern war, German shells bounced off it. The Germans had nothing comparable until later in the war.
Their tanks have just kept getting better with each new model that came out.
And the T-14 is very much in that tradition.
T-34 best tank of all time??? What an ignorant statement.
Merely mobile planters. Ask Putin or Obama. They will tell you.
From Wikipedia:
“The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank that had a profound and lasting effect on the field of tank design. Although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential tank design of the Second World War. At its introduction, the T-34 possessed an unprecedented combination of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness. Its 76.2 mm (3 in) high-velocity tank gun provided a substantial increase in firepower over any of its contemporaries; its heavy sloped armour was difficult to penetrate by most contemporary anti-tank weapons. First encountered in 1941, German tank general von Kleist at the time called it “the finest tank in the world” and Heinz Guderian confirmed the T-34’s “vast superiority” over existing German armour of the period.”
Now if you could get 10,000 of these and remotely operated we would be talking.
Yeah, but aside from that.
and knock off the insults, the T-34 was a helluva design.
Heard on a documentary that around Stalingrad, the Soviet leaders decided that after certain modifications, the T-34 was “complete”. What you got out of the factory was it. General Zuhkov stated that this was the tank to win the war.
This meant that each army group had the same standard. No more fooling round with “2nd generation” projects or “super weapons”. The factories would simply crank them out like bread from a bakery. It also made logistics more manageable.
The two biggest modifications for its standardization were a radio in each tank (before then it was flags & hand signals...only unit commanders had radios) and welding armor plates instead of rivets. Rivets had a nasty habit of breaking off upon shell impacts and ricocheting inside the crew compartment).
“T-34 best tank of all time??? What an ignorant statement.”
Well, it was the best tank at that moment for the Russians. It was cheap, easy to build, very good at deflecting fire in the front, and easy to use. But is was made under wartime conditions, in the USSR yet, and the tank crews kept injuring themselves on the crude castings with their sharp edges on the inside and outside!
“The factories would simply crank them out like bread from a bakery.”
The factory was near Moscow and the soldiers would drive them out the factory door to the front while the castings were still warm!
Actually the T-34 design changed over the years, primarily with turret design. 1940 turret was rolled and welded steel. The 41/42 turret was cast steel with approximately the same shape and profile as the 1940 turret. The 42/43 turrets were cast steel slightly higher and with a little more room the 41 turret. The late 42/43 turret had a commanders coupla added to the turret roof. From mid 43 on, the turret was enlarged to carry a 3 man crew and the 85 mm gun. The turret race for the 85mm gun turret was the same size as the 76mm turret, so a lot of the earlier 76mm gun T-34s were re-turreted with 85mm gun design. While the turrets and guns were changed often, the automotives remained pretty much the same with the same 500 hp diesel engine as the 1940 version used throughout the war.
Sweet.
Actually that was the factory in Stalingrad. From late in 1941 until the middle of 1942, with the exception of the Stalingrad factory, and the Leningrad factory all Soviet tank production ceased as the factories were shut down and their production machinery relocated to the Ural Mountains. As the Germans approached Stalingrad, workers would drive the unpainted tanks straight from the factory to the battlefield. By Late 1942 the Soviet tank production began in Ural cities such as Chelyabinsk (aka Tankograd) and Nizhny Tagil, which for a while was the largest tank production facility in the world.
It was a bare -bones rough ride too, with a crude suspension compared to the German tanks. AK-47 inventor was a tanker for a while before getting hurt.
It kicked American ass in South Korea for a while also.
Bull Snipe, the last time I got a dissertation like that was from a fellow war gamer who tried to explain to me the differences between the various models of the B-17. Well done. And I agree, for its time the T-34 was the best main battle tank of WW2.
Anybody know what the power pack looks like in these? I’d guess that’s one area that the Russians are behind the curve.
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