I am still under the idea that a T-90M upgrade for T-72's would be ideal method to normalize all parts between others and reduce all other costs. Could make it a long term tank as well while Russia can slowly produce Armata's.
The problem is that when upgrading even late model T-72s you don't replace the frontal armour so even if you spend 99% the price of a new T-90AM, you are not going to get 99% of the performance of a T-90AM.
Often a new engine and new turret is good enough... 40% the cost with 70% the performance so you can do an extra few hundred for the same price.
Kurganet, Boomerang and Typhoon are respectively a tracked IFV, a wheeled IFV and a MRAP-like protected vehicle.
None of them are light tank.
So you think Armata is the MBT, Kurganets is the BMP, Boomerang is the BTR and the Typhoon is the BRDM?
Armata is a vehicle family... Kurganets is a vehicle family, Boomerang is a vehicle family, and Typhoon is a vehicle family.
Right now it is a mess, there are BMP and BTR and MTLB and tank based vehicles in a division... all different types of vehicles with different engines and different tracks and transmissions and levels of armour and mobility.
The purpose of the new vehicle family is a unified vehicle family for each div so all vehicles in that div are based on the same vehicle... that means armata based BMPs, MBTS, BTRS, air defence vehicles missile and gun, artillery... rocket and tube, ambulance, engineer, transport, recon, BMPT, mortar, etc etc.
It also means Kurganets vehicles of the same types and Boomerang of the same types and Typoon of the same types.
There will be variations... there are armatas with front mounted engines for platforms where that makes sense, like APC and IFV where rear ramps make sense, but for the MBT and other types a rear mounted engine.
The electronics and sensor and weapons systems will be standardised... the systems and equipment for the Armata MBT will be the same for the Kurganets but optimised for the lighter vehicle. The Typhoon will be a 6 wheeled vehicle family possibly with lighter four wheeled versions... the gun platform might be a 57mm gun or a 120mm gun/mortar... or it might have a 125mm gun as used on the Sprut.
I dont see the point in purchasing new T-90M when you have T-72B3-B4 at a much lower cost.
Right now the T-90 and T-72 are more comparable than the T-72 or T-90 and the Armata MBT... upgrades to the T-72 are cheap enough right now to improve quality while keeping quantity.
New night vision and communications in the old tanks and they can start to train for net centricity and the use of UAVs and other crap so it wont be too much of a shock when they get T-14s.
Even if they put the T-72s straight into storage they would give them upgrades so they would be useful if they ever had to draw on them...
An MBT would have an hard time trying to operate on very long ranges like wheeled IFV are able to do, and on the opposite a wheeled vehicle will find many cases where its cross country capabilities won't be enough to follow MBTs.
Where a wheeled Boomerang light tank is operating there wont be any MBTs... the Boomerang will have a 125mm gun, while it will be operating with boomerangs with 57mm guns (BMP) and 30mm cannon or perhaps 57mm grenade launcher (BTR), and all the other vehicles it will be operating with will have Boomerang chassis...
There is no point in citing weakness and vulnerabilities of MBTs against antitank teams entrenched in Grozny like ghost towns.
No IFV would fare better, but the real point is that MBTs and IFVs should never go forward into urban combat.
It should always and exclusively the task of foot soldiers units to go forward, suffer 99% of the casualties and dug out the enemy.
The whole point of an Armata div is that all the vehicles will have tank level protection and mobility and vehicles like the BMPT will be used for dealing with enemy troops so your troops wont need to suffer the 99% of casualties... even direct fire artillery will be part of the plan... armata based TOS...
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