While America’s Abrams is considered the “gold standard” for main battle tanks, Russia’s T-14 Armata is also dubbed a super tank.
US President Joe Biden announced last week that the country will donate 31 US-made M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine. The White House owner said that the Abrams is the most capable tank in the world.
Not long after Washington’s announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Abrams would be burned like all other tanks on the Ukrainian battlefield.
The M1 Abrams has an automated command system, and antennas connected to a global positioning system (GPS) that allow the crew and headquarters to know exactly where the vehicle is operating. In addition, it is equipped with an early warning system. The US-made tank has a range of more than 400km and is capable of destroying targets at a distance of 4km with a modern fire control system.
In a video posted on Twitter by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, a Russian government presenter outlined ways to destroy the American Abrams tank, then compared it with the advantages. which they think Russia’s T-14 Armata possesses. “These are high-tech vehicles with sophisticated sensors, data transmitters, and drones,” the video says.
The T-14 Armata tank made headlines when it debuted in Moscow in 2015. A British military intelligence officer at the time wrote a research paper, in which it was assessed: “Armata represents a radical change. most revolutionary in tank design in half a century”.
This study said that the T-14 Armata is really different from other main battle tanks thanks to its unmanned turret, which can use a 125mm cannon.
“For the first time, a fully automated digitized, the unmanned turret has been integrated into a main battle tank. For the first time, a tank crew has been designed in an enclosed compartment. steel in the front,” the study pointed out. This increases the survivability of the crew of 3 who operate the tank inside.
Retired British Brigadier General Ben Barry commented that this turret design is capable of holding a 150mm caliber gun, and this gun is superior to the guns and armor on existing NATO tanks.
The M1 Abrams tank, with many variants, is equipped with a 105mm or 120mm barrel. The M1, depending on the model, weighs from 67.6 tons to 73.6 tons, with a top speed of about 70km/h.
Meanwhile, the T-14 Armata can reach a maximum speed of nearly 90km/h, a maximum weight of 53 tons, and a flexible chassis.
However, both types of tanks above have disadvantages.
Mr. Biden said that the operation and maintenance of the M1 Abrams tank are extremely complicated. Meanwhile, during development, the T-14 Armata also encountered a series of problems. The British Defense Ministry’s intelligence agency posted on Twitter in early January that the 11-year program to build and develop the T-14 Armata tank had been extended due to many interruptions, having to reduce the size of the fleet team behind schedule and encountering many other production problems.
According to the agency, because it is bulkier than many existing Russian tanks, the T-14 has logistics problems, so its deployment in Ukraine poses a high risk to Moscow. In addition, the T-14’s engine and thermal imaging system have had problems, so the announcement of the T-14’s deployment in Ukraine may be mainly for propaganda purposes.
The British Ministry of Defense said that the number of Russian T-14s may be limited and that Russian commanders are unlikely to trust the vehicle in combat. Meanwhile, the US has thousands of Abrams tanks in stock.
In an updated assessment on January 25, the British Ministry of Defense said that Russian commanders in Ukraine did not want to receive the first batch of T-14 tanks due to the above problems. It is not yet confirmed whether Russia has deployed the T-14 in Ukraine.
Frank Ledwidge, a lawyer and former military officer who served in the Middle East and the Balkans, says that if there is any news surrounding the T-14 Armata being destroyed in Ukraine it will affect sales. important export of this weapon. He added that Russia is more likely to send tanks around behind the front lines, rather than being deployed in the center of the conflict.
