[Official] Armata Discussion thread #5

Models of T-14 Armata and Object 195 tanks in 1/75 scale

They showed a mast mounted camera system on the upgraded T-90s... suspect they might have something similar on the Armata too... they were talking about a tethered system, but a mast mounted one might be more practical in swirling winds and near wires and trees and bushes etc.

GarryB wrote:They showed a mast mounted camera system on the upgraded T-90s... suspect they might have something similar on the Armata too... they were talking about a tethered system, but a mast mounted one might be more practical in swirling winds and near wires and trees and bushes etc.

They might have a mast...they've also hinted it will have it's own mini UAV for scouting

__________

Not sure if this has been posted here previously, but it's a pretty good overview of all the protection measures on the T-14

TMA1 wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

TMA1 wrote:...You misunderstood. There was supposedly engine trouble. The sources are west leaning so I usually come here to find out what is going on. Also I meant "recent" news.

Never heard of it

I think he is alluding to the fiasco that was the first showing of the Armata tank at May 9th celebration couple years ago.  It ended up being not the engine itself but bad oil.

No that was just the guy not knowing exactly what he was doing. I am referring to troubles with the engine and production. Heard these rumors from sturgeonhouse or paralay some other place forgot which though i think it was paralay and the guy talking about the issue was strangely critical of armata platform but the ensuing conversation seemed to show there were indeed troubles. The two problems argued were the engine and APS. And no a lot of this you cant just "look up". Hence coming to a place where many people who have seen many things where you can more easily track down a source.

Btw Lennox that second image is the best I've seen as far as armor thickness of the turret goes. Thanks!

Edit: had to explain further in my post

Then it may just be hearsay.

These kind of projects takes time and problems always arise. But Russia, unlike US, will take time to release said products till issues resolved or alternatives are used.

miketheterrible wrote:

TMA1 wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

TMA1 wrote:...You misunderstood. There was supposedly engine trouble. The sources are west leaning so I usually come here to find out what is going on. Also I meant "recent" news.

Never heard of it

I think he is alluding to the fiasco that was the first showing of the Armata tank at May 9th celebration couple years ago.  It ended up being not the engine itself but bad oil.

No that was just the guy not knowing exactly what he was doing. I am referring to troubles with the engine and production. Heard these rumors from sturgeonhouse or paralay some other place forgot which though i think it was paralay and the guy talking about the issue was strangely critical of armata platform but the ensuing conversation seemed to show there were indeed troubles. The two problems argued were the engine and APS. And no a lot of this you cant just "look up". Hence coming to a place where many people who have seen many things where you can more easily track down a source.

Btw Lennox that second image is the best I've seen as far as armor thickness of the turret goes. Thanks!

Edit: had to explain further in my post

Then it may just be hearsay.

These kind of projects takes time and problems always arise.  But Russia, unlike US, will take time to release said products till issues resolved or alternatives are used.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply bro. You are probably right btw. Only major issues I've heard about concerned the engine and APS but usually only ever heard this from people who obviously had some axe to grind. Still though I try to look at all sides and sometimes rumors have some place in fact (but this is certainly not always the case).

The new engine for the Armata family of vehicles is a huge step forward for Russia, it was designed with growth potential built in to be a 1,500-1,800hp to start off with, but with further work and development and new materials to be up to a 2,500hp engine...

That they will have problems with it is not exactly shocking, but as mentioned a conscript stalled a tank and the west went apeshit over how unreliable the engine is and all the problems they will have... sounds like the usual BS to me.

Regarding the mast mounted sight in the T-90 thread there is a close up and the optics on top have a hand strap and the lens covers have to be manually opened and replaced to use or protect it.... so I am thinking that someone has just gotten some recon binoculars and attached them for show.

Perhaps there is a drone that can land and take off from the mast position or it might have a different mast they were not ready to show just yet hense the substitution... but the optics shown would not be used for real IMHO.

A flying tether attached drone might be able to fly from it and act like an arm attached drone normally, but this is not it.

GarryB wrote:
Regarding the mast mounted sight in the T-90 thread there is a close up and the optics on top have a hand strap and the lens covers have to be manually opened and replaced to use or protect it.... so I am thinking that someone has just gotten some recon binoculars and attached them for show.

Perhaps there is a drone that can land and take off from the mast position or it might have a different mast they were not ready to show just yet hense the substitution... but the optics shown would not be used for real IMHO.

A flying tether attached drone might be able to fly from it and act like an arm attached drone normally, but this is not it.

I think the mast mounted sight can be retracted from inside the tank. Kinda like the Strv 122. Maybe they made it that way so both the tank commander and the troops outside can use it, but I don't see any advantages doing that. It could be that it's a placeholder like you said (does anyone recognize the handheld model? That would somewhat confirm this)

Anyway, it's only for commander version of T-90M, though.

Also there were concepts of the T-14 with a Pterodactyl drone,  does anyone have any info on that

Lennox wrote:Also there were concepts of the T-14 with a Pterodactyl drone,  does anyone have any info on that

The new generation of UAVs capable of flying up dozens of meters in the air will allow Russian tanks to scan areas almost 10 kilometers away.

The Pterodaktyls, attached via cable to Russia’s advanced Armata T-14 tanks, will carry thermal night vision gear and radar and will considerably increase the distance at which the tank crews can spot targets.

https://sputniknews.com/20161207/russia-drones-tanks-1048265399.html
https://abilk.com/russias-armata-tanks-to-be-equipped-with-reconnaissance-drone/

No updates since it was announced in 2016, so they must still be working on it.

The shot from behind seemed to suggest that the green part of the mast looks fixed and that it seems to be attached to an oblong box along the back of the turret bustle... it does not look like it can fold down horizontally and there is not enough room for it to concertina down like some of their really big antenna masts on their other recon vehicles.

Based on that I think the green portion is fixed and the silver bit inside that allows it to be extended upwards almost the same height again perhaps.

But as I said on the other thread the optic covers at attached rubber lens covers and there is a hand strap on the side.

There is no decent image of the rear where you would normally look through if you were holding them but the hand strap and the optic covers are a dead give away.

I mean it is certainly possible at the last minute it was not cleared to be shown so they put a portable one on there to hide the real ones features, because they probably could not take the entire thing off.

It is attached to the very back of the Bustle position.

It could still use a tether as well with being able to be raised up on the mast to say 10-12 metres, but with the optics itself being some sort of quad drone that can fly up into the air while tethered to the tanks mast... you could power the drone via the tether which would give it unlimited endurance and a secure un-interceptable communications link to the drone for flight control and watching the feedback.... some sort of internal winch could let out tether and draw it back in depending on the flight of the drone so it could be winched back onto the top of the mast in any weather or crosswind quite safely without any great need for skill or precision.

These are the images I am talking about:

I've been thinking, Zapad 21 would be nice opportunity to have official in-service debut of T-14

Do you guys think we could see that happening?

PapaDragon wrote:
I've been thinking, Zapad 21 would be nice opportunity to have official in-service debut of T-14

Do you guys think we could see that happening?

I suppose we will. The guys who received the test batch have to get some experience to write a kind of a "manual" and doctrine for the rest of the Armed Force, and this would be a perfect opportunity to do so.

I remember there being talk about possible manufacturing rate issues for the engine. But I think that was just BS.
This engine is way ahead of the competition. I suspect it will have multiple uses beyond the Armata platform.
This is likely the modern Russian equivalent of the V-2 engine of Soviet WW2 fame.
The engine is presently tuned way down to keep its lifetime up. As time goes by its performance is sure to increase.

I would not be surprised if most of the issues are with getting the Armata combat systems software and hardware working properly.
Just remember all the issues with the F-35 software and then just consider that the Armata is supposed to do way more than your average tank.
I think that is the cause of the delays. Software.

A lot of integrated systems that need to work together... for instance your laser detection system should not pop smoke every time you lase a target yourself.

A lot of things will be automated too hopefully to make them easier... it sounds like they will have an automated loading vehicle that loads ammo into the tank without the crew needing to leave the vehicle... this would be a huge step forward because at the moment you load the ammo one piece at a time and with it being two piece ammo that means 90 items loaded one at a time into the auto loader and the various locations in the tank.

The engine for the Armata is brand new and designed from scratch to be reliable and fuel efficient in the 1,800hp range, but with future potential growth up to about 2,500hp with new materials initially with less engine life and efficiency but improving over time... and is intended for the entire Armata family, just like the engine for the Kurganets and Boomerang is the same with them being in the same weight range.

Comparison of two versions of the Armata T-14 tank, a newer one on the left, an older one on the right. (c) telegram channel AviaKurs.

Some screenshots from a video.

If she can take it there's no reason not to give it to her

An image still from the video Lyle6 kindly posted above shows that on one side there are APS munitions mounted in one side of the turret pointing upwards as seen here:

(4 seconds into the video)



Just behind the forward pointing small munition launcher there are clearly two side by side vertical launchers for the same small munitions.

This does not seem to be present on the other side though... as can be seen in the top down photo of the vehicle in Lyle6s post number 736 above (photo number 2 from the top.)

That seems to be ERA+NERA or some light add on to protect ERA from small rounds.