Russia’s Upgraded Armata Tank to make its debut at IDEX-21

Russia’s Rosoboronexport will unveil the upgraded version of Armata tank at IDEX-21 show, taking place in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., from February 21 to 25.

This will be the first time the tank will be shown at a foreign event, Russian media have reported.

Last year, in August, Russian experts said they are planning to outfit the latest T-14 Armata tanks with new unmanned turret with a 152mm cannon (it currently has a 125mm gun), supersonic sub-caliber armor-piercing projectiles, fuel air explosive munitions, missiles based on the ‘fire and forget and fire again’ principle and an onboard reconnaissance and signal relay drone, TASS wrote.

Military specialists propose enhancing the Armata’s protection with the system of remotely neutralizing homing anti-tank projectiles, the technology of automatically detecting and striking targets in probable areas of tank approaches at a distance of up to 1 km, the laser equipment of disabling anti-tank guided missile guidance and the system of remotely deactivating anti-tank mines.

The tank’s upgrade will also improve its all-out shielding against rocket-propelled grenade launchers and anti-tank guided missiles and enhance electronics protection against electromagnetic and microwave weapons. It will include the systems of changing the armored vehicle’s signature and its defense against blinding laser weapons.

Read: Unmanned Version of Armata T-14 Battle Tank Planned

The upgrade will also qualitatively boost the crew’s situational awareness for accomplishing assignments successfully in a multi-domain operational environment of the future. In particular, the crew will get an advanced decision-making support system with the technology of automatically identifying targets at a distance of over 6 km and ‘transparent armor.’

The other requirements for the upgraded Armata include a more efficient 1,500 hp diesel engine, dual manual control of weapons and the engine and also improved ergonomics and habitability to provide for the crew’s continuous operation round-the-clock.

The Armata is a heavy tracked standardized platform serving as the basis to develop a main battle tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, an armored personnel carrier and some other armored vehicles.

The T-14 tank based on the Armata platform was shown to the public for the first time at Red Square’s Victory Day parade on May 9, 2015. The new combat vehicle features fully digitized equipment, an unmanned turret and an isolated armored capsule for the crew.