The Armata family of vehicles

[The Dark]

According to a Russian-language article I saw, the new 125mm 2A82 is only 52 calibers (the old 125mm was 51), but it has a longer breech to allow larger shells to be used. The T-14 Armata carries 45 rounds (32 in the autoloader, 13 others somewhere - I would assume somewhere else in the turret, based on the design philosophy, but I haven't seen confirmation of that). The Malachit ERA is allegedly a new type that uses a very tiny amount of explosive to vibrate the armor plate instead of projecting it at the incoming round, with the goal of breaking up HEAT jets or rod penetrators. It's said it still has the capability to fire AT-11 missiles, and there's talk of up-gunning it to a 152mm 2A83 cannon. That version would have much less ammunition (my estimate is around 16-18 in the autoloader and 10-12 spare), and there's very little information on the gun, but it's likely around 45 calibers in length. The active protection system consists of 10 hard-kill projectiles mounted under the turret facing forwardwith a 60 degree arc of fire and 48 soft-kill projectiles mounted on the turret, with 24 aimed outward and 24 aimed upward, which use multi-spectral smoke to cause laser or infrared guided missiles to lose track of the tank. Secondary armament is supposed to be a PKT with 1,000 rounds and a Kord 12.7mm with 300 rounds.

The T-15 Armata IFV has a turret with a 2A42 30mm cannon (500 rounds - 160 AP and 340 HE is standard load), a 7.62mm coaxial MG (2000 rounds), and 4 Kornet-EM (AT-14 Spriggan) missiles. It has the same hard-kill missiles as the T-14, mounted along the hull in a 60 degree arc, but doesn't appear to have any soft-kill launchers.

The Kurganets IFV (B-11) has the same turret as the T-15, appears to carry 20 hard-kill missiles (4 forward, 4 aft, and 6 on each side), along with 12 soft-kill smoke launchers on the turret and 6 or 7 infantry. The APC version (B-10) has only a 12.7mm Kord for armament, with no hard-kill launchers and 16 soft-kill launchers on the turret, and carries 8 infantry. Mass for the Kurganets is around 25 tonnes, with a top claimed speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

Now, these are all based on photographs from Victory Day parades, so it's entirely possible the deployed vehicles will be different, since the parade vehicles have not been combat-ready. All of the turrets mentioned are unmanned

[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by The Dark

According to a Russian-language article I saw, the new 125mm 2A82 is only 52 calibers (the old 125mm was 51), but it has a longer breech to allow larger shells to be used. The T-14 Armata carries 45 rounds (32 in the autoloader, 13 others somewhere - I would assume somewhere else in the turret, based on the design philosophy, but I haven't seen confirmation of that). The Malachit ERA is allegedly a new type that uses a very tiny amount of explosive to vibrate the armor plate instead of projecting it at the incoming round, with the goal of breaking up HEAT jets or rod penetrators. It's said it still has the capability to fire AT-11 missiles, and there's talk of up-gunning it to a 152mm 2A83 cannon. That version would have much less ammunition (my estimate is around 16-18 in the autoloader and 10-12 spare), and there's very little information on the gun, but it's likely around 45 calibers in length. The active protection system consists of 10 hard-kill projectiles mounted under the turret facing forwardwith a 60 degree arc of fire and 48 soft-kill projectiles mounted on the turret, with 24 aimed outward and 24 aimed upward, which use multi-spectral smoke to cause laser or infrared guided missiles to lose track of the tank. Secondary armament is supposed to be a PKT with 1,000 rounds and a Kord 12.7mm with 300 rounds.

The T-15 Armata IFV has a turret with a 2A42 30mm cannon (500 rounds - 160 AP and 340 HE is standard load), a 7.62mm coaxial MG (2000 rounds), and 4 Kornet-EM (AT-14 Spriggan) missiles. It has the same hard-kill missiles as the T-14, mounted along the hull in a 60 degree arc, but doesn't appear to have any soft-kill launchers.

The Kurganets IFV (B-11) has the same turret as the T-15, appears to carry 20 hard-kill missiles (4 forward, 4 aft, and 6 on each side), along with 12 soft-kill smoke launchers on the turret and 6 or 7 infantry. The APC version (B-10) has only a 12.7mm Kord for armament, with no hard-kill launchers and 16 soft-kill launchers on the turret, and carries 8 infantry. Mass for the Kurganets is around 25 tonnes, with a top claimed speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

Now, these are all based on photographs from Victory Day parades, so it's entirely possible the deployed vehicles will be different, since the parade vehicles have not been combat-ready. All of the turrets mentioned are unmanned

I see you just joined. Welcome to the forum sir!

[The Dark]

Originally Posted by swaghauler

I see you just joined. Welcome to the forum sir!

Thank you! I saw mention of the forum in the Facebook group a while back, and finally got around to signing up.

[pmulcahy11b]

The Armata series looks good. The trick is going to be whether the Russians have the money to properly develop (that's the biggest part) and eventually mass-produce it.

[CraigD6]

Is the turret a bit too angular? There seems to be an awful lot of shot traps there, where a projectile is more likely to do damage than skim off. Most modern tanks seem to go for sloped armour to try and deflect any incoming rounds, but are the Russians relying on their defensive systems to prevent a hit in the first place?

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by CraigD6

Is the turret a bit too angular? There seems to be an awful lot of shot traps there, where a projectile is more likely to do damage than skim off. Most modern tanks seem to go for sloped armour to try and deflect any incoming rounds, but are the Russians relying on their defensive systems to prevent a hit in the first place?

Probably. Plus some of those angular segments appear to be blocks of passive armor and possibly bits of reactive armor as well. And it was supposed to be an unmanned turret, with the entire crew safely in the heavily armored, low-profile hull.

[The Dark]

A large portion of the visible turret is sheet metal. I've seen a couple pictures from the May Day parade preparations where a seam is visible, and it's a few millimeters of metal. As far as I know, the shape of the inner turret hasn't been publicly displayed.

That said, I do think the Russians are heavily relying on their active defenses. The publicly claimed weight for the tank is very light for its size (it's slightly longer and taller than an Abrams, a tiny bit narrower, and 10-20 tons lighter depending on Abrams version). Assuming the weight is accurate, I suspect there's minimal passive armor everywhere except the crew capsule (which is said to have protection equivalent to 900mm of RHA), simply because there's not the mass necessary for heavy armor. If the actives (both the Afganit and the NERA) fail, it should be fairly resistant to single-charge HEAT warheads due to the armored capsule and the slat armor on the rear, but I'm less certain of its ability against tandem-charge warheads or KE penetrators.