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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Putin's new 'super tank': British intelligence warns Russian vehicle is 'the most revolutionary change in tank design in the last half century' and leaves the West totally outgunned
2016-11-07
[DailyMail] - Military intelligence officers have assessed Putin's new Armata battle tank which was introduced in 2015

  • The new Russian main battle tank is designed to protect the vehicle's crew on the battlefield

  • UK stalled new tank design as heavy armour is not useful against lightly-armed and highly mobile jihadis

  • Russia's new tank is faster, lighter and lower than the British Challenger II main battle tanks
  • Posted by:Blossom Unains5562

    #12  After reading about what the Chechynas did to the Soviet tanks that went into Grozny I'd be looking into some way to automate the tanks, or at least give them drone eyes so they can keep the tank buttoned up.
    Posted by: rjschwarz   2016-11-07 16:00  

    #11  Behavioral controls are much more complex than smaller unmanned vehicles. Terrain interactions cover a much larger range of soil, water etc conditions. Plus coordination is key for armored assault and that adds complexity too.
    Posted by: Zebulon and Tenille2425   2016-11-07 15:32  

    #10  Why hasn't someone come up with a completely robotic tank yet?
    Posted by: rjschwarz   2016-11-07 12:35  

    #9  How does it rate against an Warthog? or a drone with the biggest missile a drone can carry?
    Posted by: rjschwarz   2016-11-07 12:32  

    #8  Couldn't help but notice all painted European Forest Green camo pattern.
    Posted by: Skidmark   2016-11-07 11:35  

    #7  So an unmanned turret is a good idea, I'll give you that. But the range and speed are no real benefit on todays battlefield. Lots of nice flat panels on that tank, even with reactive armor, it is sabo bait. Our other weapon shoot from the top down. Smaller turret means nothing but a direct hit into the crew if it does not hit the turret. The track is still vulnerable, to hand held systems. And that laser viewfinder sitting on top like a periscope is telling me they are putting too much into buttoned up operations, probably because of the unmanned turret, and will be very vulnerable to other than kinetic weapons. Russian shit briefs well, but only works well when the fight like the Chinese, in echelon, with mass numbers. Fighting an Army that uses fire will still defeat them.
    Posted by: 49 Pan   2016-11-07 10:18  

    #6  Reminds me of the same "experts" that lauded the Mig-25 as a "Super Plane" as well. The plus side is we did build the F-15 to counter those imagined planes.

    Before panicking, I would like to see some data:

    How well the tank is survivable against western anti-tank missiles
    The penetration performance of the main gun ammo (been a problem in the past)
    Sustained fire reliability (the US didn't go with an autoloader as they found an 18yo arm was smarter, more reliable and helped with tank maintenance)
    Crew comfort (russian tanks in the past were uncomfortable and during long operations made the crew exhausted)
    Posted by: DarthVader   2016-11-07 09:02  

    #5  the Israeli Merkava also is a low profile and designed for crew protection

    what you don't get from the article is the actual performance

    can the tank turn and back up quickly, how do the electronics work, etc. also of vital importance is how well the tanks coordinate with air power and air recon
    Posted by: lord garth   2016-11-07 06:27  

    #4  Budget prep time in MoD and DoD?
    Posted by: P2Kontheroad   2016-11-07 06:08  

    #3  Its formidable tank, more modern then anything out there now, its relatively cheap and as it has only a three man crew (which I do not like) definitely has a price advantage.

    I particularly like that the crew compartment is physically separated from the ammunition.
    Posted by: Bernardz   2016-11-07 05:10  

    #2  The new Russian main battle tank is designed to protect the vehicle's crew on the battlefield

    Yes, bloody difficult time being 'combat effective' with a dead crew.
    Posted by: Besoeker   2016-11-07 03:21  

    #1  Bipolar world: arms race, space race. Darwin rules!!!
    Maybe even a way to get western "elites" to pull their collective head from their collective rectum.

    Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-11-07 03:17  

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