Original title: A slap for NATO and America! Russian super-tank is getting ready for export: Numerous countries want to reinforce their army with this military miracle
On June 9, 2020, an article titled “A slap for NATO and America! Russian super-tank is getting ready for export: Many countries want to reinforce their armies with this military miracle” was published on the web portal index24.mk. The article in question discusses, as the author puts it, the “revolutionary” Russian tank T-14 Armata, which is a “military miracle”. It will reportedly start exporting in 2021, and experts are currently reportedly considering “which technologies can be sold to foreigners and which advanced technologies will be applied on the tank.” Further in the text are listed all the potential countries that could be buyers of the subject tank.You can find the link to the original article here.
The T-14 tank Armata is the latest combat tank of the Russian Federation. It is a modern, highly sophisticated tank, which is expected to be the future of the Russian Army in terms of tanks for the main battle. At least that is the announcement of official Kremlin. However, as sensational as the title of the article may sound, a number of facts suggest that not everything is so ‘pink’.
In 2015, during a military parade on Victory Day (May 9th) in Moscow, the tank showed some technical problems and could not move. After moving the tank, the spokesperson of the parade stated that it was not a defect, but that it was allegedly a “planned event” and that the aim was to show what the eventual evacuation from the tank would look like. Given that the tank has shown technical problems in conditions of non-combat activities, we can only imagine what results this tank would show in combat conditions.
Due to the time required to test and successfully operationalize the highly sophisticated equipment built into the tank, as well as the high cost of production, the Russian Federation has decided to focus on upgrading older tank models such as the T-72, T-80 and T-90. But the truth is that so far there have been several problems with various parts of the tank: (1) the engine, (2) the gear changes and (3) the thermal vision, and so on.
Due to its huge cost, the planned production is running very late and because of that the deadline was extended for another 5 years, until 2025, and so far only a few tanks have been produced. To illustrate, this tank is not yet in official use, and the first test was made in Syria. Hence, the initially announced 2,300 tanks by 2025 are a financially and technically impossible mission. Even the chairman of the Duma’s defense committee, Aleksander Sherin, admits the tank is too expensive.
In 2015-2016, it was estimated that such a tank would cost between $ 5.38 million and $ 9.42 million. To this should be added the coronavirus pandemic, which will only make it more difficult to meet the deadlines for the tank. It is important to note that the Russian tank T-14 Armata has not yet started to be exported, although according to Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the Russian Federation already has preliminary orders for this tank.
The T-14 Army has not yet competed in international tank competitions, where the German tank Leopard has been the most dominant in recent years. Besides this, the German tank Leopard and its upgrades are perhaps the most widely used type of main battle tank in the world. Hence, it is incorrect to state that the Russian T-14 Army is superior in any sense when it has not proved it in combat circumstances or demonstration exercises on the ground with competing tanks.And when it comes to military capabilities and the superiority of NATO, the United States and Russia, the F2N2.mk team has already researched this topic. “The North Atlantic Alliance has the military-technological defense capabilities to respond to any kind of threat or possible aggression by Russia against any NATO member state. In particular, the ratio of forces between the NATO Alliance and Russia is 3.44: 1.”
All in all, the F2N2 team assesses this article as a classic example of Russian propaganda and misinformation aimed at discrediting NATO allies. The author uses a strictly selected source that spreads anti-NATO narratives, and by twisting the real facts, seeks to present Russia as a military superpower that has military superiority over the NATO Alliance.
