Russia's new main battle tank the T-14 'Armata' is on schedule to complete production tests, with the Russian Army to be equipped with 2,300 units by 2020.
Russian news agency TASS has reported that the tank is due to be on show at the Russian Arms Expo (RAE2015) to be held in the Urals in September.
Covered with a paint that is supposedly resistant to radar detection, and with it's heat emitters buried deep within the hull, the deputy director of its manufacturer Uralvagonzavod, Vyacheslav Khalitov, has said it it is undetectable by enermy radar and thermal heat sensors.
With each tank costing about $US8 million, the Russian military intends to replace 70 per cent of its tank corps with the new tracked vehicle, replacing the older T-72 and T-90 main battle tanks.
The tank’s main armament is the 2A82 125-mm smoothbore cannon, which purportedly has a greater muzzle energy than the German Leopard-2 Rheinmetall 120 mm gun. The tank is also equipped with fully automated ammunition loading and completely computerized targeting systems.
Apart from the stealth technology, which is viewed with some skepticism by Western and even Russian experts, the Armata is also equipped with a new generation of explosive reactive armour (ERA) that is unequalled.
On May 9 during the annual Russian May Day military parade, an Armata broke down (see video) and had to be towed away from Red Square, much to the chagrin of officials.